I love you, BF!
by iJutsu
Summary: Kari and TK have always been the best of friends. Everytime TK crushes on a girl, Kari helps him win her heart. Because that's whats best friends do for each other. And she's happy that he's happy...right? / Takari
1. Chapter 1

Hello, everyone! So here's a funny story. I visited my young cousins a week ago, and we watched some old VCR tapes, one in which was Digimon. It brought back a lot of memories. I used to be ga-ga over this show, especially over the pairing of TK and Kari. I went home and rummaged through my old journals and saw an unfinished Takari piece. So now, 3 years later, I decided to complete it (and revise it). I know it's different from my usual Nejiten pairing, but I want to try something different. So I hope you enjoy!

**I Love You, BF!**

by iJutsu

"Looks like Amber got the hots for you, TK!" giggled Kari, as she nudged her best friend who stood next to her.

"Ha, I wish. She didn't even look at me."

"TK, she _winked_ at you!"

"Are you sure that was a wink? Not an awkward eye twitch?"

"You gave her flowers this morning near her locker. Flowers!"

"Flowers YOU bought that I just happened to drop by at her locker!"

"You can't tell me that wink was for nothing!"

"Maybe that was the wink of doom and she plans on killing me for even thinking of hitting on her."

"Gah, you're so humble!" Kari whined, as she closed her locker and linked her arms with his, "You've been such a magnet ever since middle school, and you know that! How many girlfriends have you had? Hm. Well, there's Sheila. Then there's Janine. Then Janelle, then Cindy, then Daisy, then Belle! Oh, and remember that French girl, what as her name again..?"

"Oh stop it Kari, you're making me sound like a pimp," he laughed.

"Excuse me! Usually boys would take pride in that!"

"You're right, you're right. Besides, I wouldn't have gotten so many girls if it wasn't for you. I still owe you big for pairing me up with so much girls who wouldn't even give me a glance. What are you? Some match-making wizard?"

"I have my ways," Kari winked, "Besides, that's what best friends are for. In fact, I bet I'm good enough to book you and Amber a date this Saturday at that carnival thing going on near the beach."

TK blinked, "You're that good?"

"I'm that good."

Before they knew it, they already walked into class. They then took their seats, which were unfortunately not next to each other. TK waved goodbye to Kari as he took his seat next to Davis, who already challenged him to a soccer game before TK was even able to sit down. Kari sat besides Yolei, so that wasn't a problem at all. She was her best friend, girl-wise, that is. Yolei was staring straight at Kari as she took her seat. Kari raised a brow, since she noticed Yolei staring ever since she and TK entered class. Settling her stuff down, she turned to Yolei.

"Good morning!" Kari smiled.

"Oh, don't you good morning me! Please don't tell me what I just heard was true!"

"What are you talking about?" Kari asked, honestly confused.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about Kari Kamiya!"

"Yolei, I honestly don't know what you're talking about!"

"You and TK? Are you seriously going to pair him up with another girl? And Amber? And you bought flowers for TK to give HER? Really, Kari? Really?" the frustration in her voice slowly went away as she took a deep breath and gave Kari a more concerned look, "Kari, why? Why do you keep doing this to yourself?"

Kari stared for a moment, but finally understood what she meant. She sighed in defeat and slid down on her seat a bit. She stayed quiet for a moment before answering Yolei.

"He's my best friend, Yolei. What else am I supposed to do?"

"Um, NOT offer?" Yolei stated as a matter of fact.

"But he really likes her," Kari said, defending herself, "And I just want to help him out."

"Oh puh-lease, Kari! That's what you said about all the other hundred girls before her! And more than half of them didn't even last more than 2 months!"

"Maybe this one will be different…"

"That's what you said last time."

"Oh hush," Kari pouted, as she slid more down her seat in defeat. She sighed and placed her head down her desk, with her face still facing her purple-haired friend, "I just want him to be happy, Yolei."

"Honey, but what about yours?" Yolei asked quietly, placing her head down to level out with hers and to look at her straight in the eyes, "When is your happiness finally going to come first, and not his? He's your best friend, too. Isn't he supposed to make you feel equally happy? I know you care, but c'mon. You can't keep doing this to yourself."

"Yolei, TK does make me happy. You know how happy he makes me. And he does treat me like a best friend! Because that's what we are," Kari's face then dropped down slowly, "Best friends. And that's all we'll ever be. And I'm thankful for that, Yolei. I really am..."

"Kari, you like him," Yolei frowned, noticing her obvious pain, "And you know that. He even confessed his love to you last year, and you rejected him."

Kari stayed quiet. Yolei continued, "I bet all those girls he dated right after asking you out are just rebounds. It's amazing how you guys are still the best of friends."

"I don't want to ruin our friendshi-"

"Don't even say that, Kari. Don't even bring up the whole 'I don't want to ruin our friendship' gibberish! Kari, listen. Those words are for wimps who are scared of risking their happiness and then end up missing out on something much greater."

Kari became speechless to Yolei's last response. Thoughts started to over-flow her head. Unhealthy thoughts for that matter. _"Am I a wimp…?"_ Kari thought to herself disappointingly as she let out a flustered sigh. Yolei sighed too, noticing Kari's discomfort, and then sat back up, stretching a bit. The teacher just now walked in. Without looking back down at Kari, she spoke.

"Think about it, Kari. If you guys are still able to be best friends after a rejection, then no doubt you guys will still be friends after a break up. You guys are that strong."

School had just now ended, and what Yolei last said to her was still fresh in her mind. It was only Thursday and now she has more than just homework to think about. Thank God that was the last class and that tomorrow's Friday though. Trying to forget about their conversation, Kari walked over to her locker. She opened it and stared blankly to remember if she had any homework. Long seconds later, instead of staring blankly into the locker to remember homework, she ended up staring dully at the taped photo of her and TK right at the center. A small smile found it's way to her lips as she lightly traced the photo with her finger. Now realizing what she was doing, she shook her head and blushed._ "Get a hold of yourself, Kari! TK likes Amber. You're his best friend. You're supposed to help him out. That's your job, to make him happy! And remember, YOU'RE the one who rejected him. YOU said it'll be best to remain best friends. And that's what happened right? We're still best friends and everything's just perfect! Just how I wanted it to be…right?"_ Kari was now very annoyed with her thoughts. She always hated second-guessing herself. Just one of those pet peeves. Frustratingly, she slammed her locker door shut, only to reveal her best friend standing right beside her. His big, foolish smile then turned into a worried expression.

"Kari, what's wrong?"

"N-nothing, TK!" Kari stammered, blushing embarrassingly, "I just have so much homework, and my grades aren't doing so well. Senioritis will be the death of me! Ha ha ha…ha."

TK looked at her strangely. The look he gave her made her feel uncomfortable, especially since Kari was as easy to read as a book. He sighed.

"No seriously, Kari. What's wrong?"

A nasty feeling hit her strong on the gut. If there was anything she hated more than anything in the world, it was lying to her best friend. And the fact that he noticed so quickly hurt her more. The concerned and sad look that was showing through TK's eyes made it way harder for Kari to keep her thoughts stable. Too much was already going through her head, and it showed. Her body temperature was building up, which made it seem like she was getting a fever. Kari panics a bit too easily, and TK knows that. Before she knew it, she felt his pair of arms wrap around her shoulder and her head being laid against a firm, warm chest. She looked up to TK's concerned face.

"What's bothering you, Kari?" he asked sadly, "Are you sick?"

Kari sighed, and buried her face in his chest. She didn't want to look at him, especially if she actually does blurt out what she wants to ask. She softly wrapped her arms around him as well, and slowly turned her face to the side for some air. She took a silent deep breath, and braced herself.

"TK, are you mad at me?"

TK was quite appalled from the question, "Mad? No, of course not. Why would I be mad?"

Kari gulped, "Are you mad that I rejected you? N-not reject, but refused to be your girlfriend?"

Kari felt his body tense up. He slowly removed himself from the embrace, which almost killed Kari inside. She immediately assume she hurt his feelings to ask such a question. At this point, she couldn't even look up once she felt his arms fully leave her. She didn't want to see the pain in his eyes. But seeing her more afraid to look at him, made TK even more concerned that she was hurting herself over this. He placed a hand on her shoulder, motioning her to look up at him. She didn't. He sighed.

"Kari, that was more than a year ago. Of course I'm not mad," he said, reassuringly.

"A-are you really over it?" she said rather quickly, still looking away as uncomfortable as ever, "Are you really over me?"

"Kari…"

"Are you really happy being just best friends? Are those other girls just rebounds? A-are you just lying to yourself so I'll be happy?"

"Kari, what in the world are you talking about? I…"

"Am…Am I that bad? Am I…"

"TK!"

A sudden voice came from behind Kari. Kari turned her head around, and TK looked up. Both their hearts dropped. It was the wrong person at the wrong time. The very wrong person at the very wrong time. TK's hand slid off Kari's shoulder clumsily as he looked at the being that just now approached them. Kari just turned her head back around and remained silent, head down.

"A-Amber, what are you doing here?"

"I just want to thank you for giving me these flowers," she smiled, embracing softly the flowers in her arms, "They're really beautiful. It was really sweet of you."

Kari winced, and TK was at a loss of words. He managed a shaky smiled, and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "You're welcome."

She then flashed a charming smile at him; a smile he couldn't even ignore, despite the situation he was in.

"Why?" she asked.

"Why, what?" TK asked back, confused.

"Why did you send me these flowers, silly!"

TK froze on the spot. All of sudden, everything and every reason he planned to get closer to Amber was gone. He didn't remember a thing. He couldn't even recall the reason why he even started liking her in the first place. All of that suddenly didn't matter anymore. The only thing literally on his mind was Kari. Speaking of Kari, he totally was guilty for forgetting her presence. He looked down at her, who just continued looking down, biting her bottom lip. She let out a shaky sigh and turned to Amber and smiled. Amber blinked then smiled back happily.

"Kari! I didn't notice you! Look at what TK got me, aren't they beautiful?" she said, showing her the flowers in her arms. It was obvious that Amber didn't know that Kari too had a crush on TK, so she didn't find it that insulting.

"Yeah, it's beautiful," Kari said quietly.

"Gee, Kari," Amber said worriedly, "You face is turning a bit red. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just…"Kari then changed her words, "N-no, you're right. I am feeling a bit sick. I should go."

She then turned to TK and gave him such a soft, sad smile that stabbed TK right through his heart. Her smile was painful. Especially coming from his best friend, a fake smile would be the worst.

"See you tomorrow, TK," Kari said, leaving him alone with Amber with absolutely nothing to say.

Later at night,

Kari was lying face down on the floor with nothing but a pillow to support her face. Thoughts of what she did earlier haunted her mind. She grunted loudly into the pillow and kicked her legs up and down childishly. It may have happened hours ago, but she was deadly embarrassed. _"Why did I put TK on the spot like that?" _Kari thought angrily to herself, _"Why did I even have to bring it up? Not only was that awkward, but that was rude! I just can't go asking if he's over me and then put him down about all those other girls. What got over me? Ugh, Kari, you're so stupid!" _She grunted loudly into her pillow once more before rolling back onto her back, face towards the ceiling fan. She was guilty of wishing for the fan to suddenly break apart and slice off her neck. Sighing and putting her deadly thoughts aside, she pulled out her phone. She had to get her mind off things, and her first instinct was to call Yolei. She stretched out her arms first, but as she did so, her phone rang loudly, startling her, and causing her to drop her phone on her face.

"Smooth, Kari, smooth," she said sarcastically as she sat up, rubbing her nose.

She grabbed her phone which was luckily still ringing. She looked at the caller ID and gasped softly. Luck wasn't the best word to use. It was TK calling. Kari just stared at her phone. It was as if she was staring at a bomb, and if she doesn't press the right button, it'll explode. But she had to do something, and she had to do something fast. She could either pick up the call, and explain herself and possibly lose her friendship, or she can ignore the call and sulk in her misery with no one but the floor and the pillow to accompany her. Kari took a deep breath. She picked up the call.

Boom.

"TK?"

"Hey, Kari. How are you feeling?" TK asked kindly.

Kari sighed in relief from the voice on the other end. Same old gentle, sweet and caring voice. She nodded, "Yeah, I'm feeling a bit better. Sorry if I worried you. I feel so bad."

"No, it's alright. Don't feel bad. What's a best friend for, right?"

There were those words again. Best friend. Kari found herself silent on the other line, staring blankly at her feet. _"Why do I feel this way?" _Kari thought depressingly, _"I should be thanking him. I should be grateful I have someone to look out for me. But then why do I feel so…sad?" _Her phone shook a little in her hand, as she struggled to get out the rights words to say. But nothing. For a moment, it was as if she was all alone, with a phone in her ear and no one on the other line. She snapped out of her thoughts once she heard TK's voice suddenly on the other line.

"Kari, you still there?"

"Y-yeah!" she replied, a bit startled, "Sorry, I dropped my phone." _Great, another lie. _Kari cleared her throat, "So how did it go with Amber? She sure did sound happy earlier! See, I told you the flowers was going to work!"

TK was silent. Kari literally hit her face with a pillow in stupidity for even thinking of bringing up such a subject. Especially now, when TK was obviously getting suspicious with her strange and sudden behavior. Kari's mind was now spinning. She was desperately trying to find something to say to make things less awkward. She opened her mouth to change the subject, however TK beat her to it.

"It went great," he replied, rather quietly.

Kari again froze. That was the last thing she expected him to say. Her throat suddenly became dry. She started feeling that nasty feeling again-that feeling she always gets whenever things go well with TK and a girl. The feeling she's been trying to deny for the past many years.

Jealousy. Kari just couldn't admit that she's always been jealous ever since the first girl. Especially not after she rejected him when he asked her out. That was already a slap to his face saying that she's never jealous. But she was. Possibly even more than jealous, and that was just bad. Kari bit her lip to prevent the muffled noises coming out of her mouth. _"No. No! Am I going to cry? What the hell's going on with you Kari? You've dealt with this so many times…why break down now? Why now…?"_ She felt so bad. She felt bad not being happy for her best friend. Her best friend of all people. TK noticed the muffled breathing and some sniffles from the other end, and got alarmed.

"Kari, are you okay? Are you crying?" he asked, in slight panic, "Was it something I said? Did something happen at school today? Kari, something's up, and I know it, so please tell me. You're worrying me…"

"N-nothing's wrong!" Kari said quickly, "You know my allergies are the worst during this time of year.."

"…Are you lying to me?" he asked, not buying it.

"Y-you know what?" Kari said through her forced smile, not being able to handle her emotions anymore, "I'm glad things worked out with you and Amber. T-That's what you wanted all along, right? I'm so happy for you, TK!"

"Kari…" he said, interrupting her, now extremely worried.

"O-oh! I have an idea!" she exclaimed quickly, ignoring him, "Let's go celebrate! A-at that carnival thing this Saturday. Yeah, it'll be so much fun. Oh, wait, that's when you're going with Amber, huh? Ahaha man, I forgot. I guess we'll just settle for some other time. S-sorry. I hope you have fun with Amber though! Y-you deserve it. S-s-so happy for you."

"Kari, you're crying…"

"N-no, I'm not!"

"Kari, listen…!"

"I have to go. Good night, TK. See you tomorrow!"

With that, Kari swiftly hung up and literally threw her phone at the pile of stuff animals that laid on the floor. She was still shaking, and her hand slowly found it's way to her mouth. Before she knew it, she was crying, trying to prevent to pitiful cries that escaped from her mouth. Strangely finding the strength to even move, she opened her drawer and pulled out her pink diary that she abuses with thoughts. Shakily, she grabbed a thick marker from the shelf and wrote just three big words on one page:

I love you, BF.

Slowly putting down the marker and the diary, she grabbed her pillow and sobbed quietly into it. Suddenly, her phone began to ring again, but she ignored it. Most likely it was from TK, and she couldn't risk feeling like this again and making a fool out of herself once more. With nothing else to do or say, she slowly found her self crying herself to sleep on the floor, with nothing but the sound of her cell phone ringing to sing to her to sleep.

**TBC**

**So, what do you think? I've always adored Kari and TK's friendship. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed it. Read and Review, please! Keep my hyped to write this =) I'll try to update as fast as I can. **

**Oh, and as for the title, you'll understand it later in the future chapters.**

**R&R !**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, again! I really hope I make some progress with this story. I actually like where it's heading right now, so hopefully I don't screw it up. It was originally supposed to be a one-shot, but I'm not very good at those. The story ends up getting too long for one-shot standards. Haha, anyways, I hope you enjoyed Chapter 1, and I hope now you enjoy Chapter 2! Prepare yourselves, this will be a long chapter!**

**I Love You, BF!**

by iJutsu

**Chapter 2 **

Kari glared at the alarm clock that practically shouted in her ears to get her lazy butt off the bed. She grunted frustratingly and covered her face with her pillow. It didn't seem to work, since the alarm clock seemed to get louder each time she tried to ignore it. Giving up, she sat up and slammed it off. Kari sat up shakily and groaned. She rubbed her head with one hand, and her back with her other. Sleeping on the floor gave her nothing but a sore back and a massive headache. Managing to stand up and stretch, she opened her blinds and walked over to get her poorly abused phone that she threw last night. Kari sighed, remembering last night. She was a jerk, and she was a wimp. TK was just being a good best friend by caring about her, and she neglected that all because of what? She didn't even know. Picking up her phone, her eyes widened in shock.

"53 missed calls?"

She quickly went through the missed calls, and her heart dropped painfully when she realized it was all TK. She knew that he'd end up calling her back once or twice, but 53 times? Now that was guilt. Kari groaned loudly and flopped herself on the bed, feeling as guilty as ever. She couldn't blame herself, however. If she were going to pick up those calls, what was she going to say? That relieved her a bit. Closing the missed calls list, she noticed the voicemail icon near her signal bars. Just one voicemail. Out of 53 calls, there was 1 voicemail. Puzzled, Kari hesitantly called voicemail and placed the phone on her ear. It was TK. She braced herself.

"Kari, please pick up your phone," TK said, almost heart-brokenly, "It's 3 AM, and I'm still extremely worried about you. And you were crying, Kari, don't lie. I know you never lie to me. But I know that if you do, something's really troubling you, and you're scared to tell me. But don't be. I'm your best friend, Kari. I'm here to protect you. Please remember that. Good night. I miss you."

Beep. Kari was still taking in the message through her head, with her phone still glued to her ear. TK always had a way with words. It was almost as if he was her lover. But those words again: Best friend. And the way he said it made it seem was that it was to stay that way forever. Kari shakily let out a breath. _"Maybe that's just how it's supposed to be," _Kari thought to herself, _"Like he said, I have to remember that." _She finally removed the phone from her ear and set it aside to charge. Kari glanced at her clock and saw that she had only 10 minutes before the school bell rings. She blinked, not realizing how much time flew by once she woke up.

"No point of getting ready now," Kari said to herself as she walked to the bathroom to wash up, "I won't make it to school in time, so might as well just save myself the trouble of getting a late slip."

After brushing her teeth, she looked at herself in mirror and nearly stuck out her tongue in disgust. She looked pathetic. Her eyes were still a bit red, and her eye bags were easily noticed. All caused by crying herself to sleep over nothing. She washed her face carefully, brushed her hair, and put on something decent. If she was going to miss a day of school, might as well make the most of it. She'll just have to deal with Tai's nagging once he gets back from work. Grabbing her purse and cardigan off the rack, she opened the door and jerked back a little from the sight of her purple-headed friend standing right before her, arms crossed, and with a slightly angry face.

"Yolei? Why aren't you at school?"

"Kari, we have first period together, and if you're not there, I can't already sense something's up. It's like that girl-telepathy thing we have going on."

"Uh…telepathy?"

"Oh, you know what I mean!" she groaned, but then gave her a serious look, "Why are you ditching? Whoa, and what's wrong with your eyes? Did you get any sleep last night? Ugh, let's save the questions for later. C'mon, let's take a walk in the park, grab some breakfast, and theeeen talk about it! Kay? Kay. Let's go."

Not having a chance to object, Yolei linked their arms together and they quickly walked out of the apartment. Surprisingly, Yolei's forceful attitude was something she loved about her, and she was actually glad she came over to pick her up. Being alone with her thoughts would of just been worst. At least now she had somebody to talk about it with. As they walked through the block, Yolei couldn't help but notice how absent-minded Kari looked this morning. Yolei sighed, already having a good feeling about what she's thinking about. They walked over to the local café, which luckily sold pancakes for half off if one is there before 9. Kari grabbed a seat while Yolei ordered. Soon enough, Yolei came back with two plates of pancakes and set one plate in front of Kari. Kari's focus was still out the window. Yolei sighed.

"This is about TK, isn't it?" Yolei asked, as she took her seat facing Kari.

Kari snapped out her personal bubble, and blinked questionably over at Yolei. "Huh? N-no, of course not! Why would you even think that!" Kari stammered with an awkward laugh.

Yolei gave her a dumb look, which obviously told Kari that she wasn't buying it. Kari sighed, and gave up trying to hide it. She just nodded slowly.

"I knew it," Yolei stated, frowning at how troubled Kari looked, "What exactly happened?"

"I asked TK yesterday after school if he was really over the fact that I rejected him," Kari said, looking down at her pancakes sadly, "If he's just pretending to be okay about it just so that I'll be happy."

"Wow, that's a lot to take in then," Yolei said, taking a bite out of her pancake, "Were you that straight forward? What did he say?"

"Pretty much," Kari whispered while stabbing her pancake with her fork lightly before raising her voice a bit, "He didn't say anything. Amber came along while we were talking."

Yolei nearly spat out her pancakes in disgust, "Amber? Are you serious? Talk about bad timing! What did she say?"

"That she was so touched that TK got her the flowers, yada yada yada."

"Ugh, how-"

"And, and I bet you that they're going on a date this Saturday for that dumb carnival thing. I bet my dumb plan to get Amber to talk to TK actually worked."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because in those flowers that I bought, there was a card that asked her out to the carnival. And when I asked TK yesterday how things went with Amber, he said that things went 'great'. AKA she read the card and accepted the date."

"…You did all that? _Again? _How many times are you going to make a complete fool out of yourself just to make TK get a girl? You can't keep hurting yourself like that, Kari!"

Kari found herself quiet again, thinking back at all the trouble she went through just for TK to get with a girl. She even dressed like a cute bear for Valentines Day in sophomore year to hold up a sign saying: "Be Mine" for a girl that TK ended up dating for just a month. There was probably more embarrassingly things she did, but she really didn't want to think about it. But now here she is, doing it all over again for Amber. Kari found herself fidgeting with her fork, deep in thought. She could feel Yolei's eyes stab right through her, suspecting something. Kari bit her lip. She felt the urge to cry, but she had to fight it. Feeling weak was one thing, but feeling weak over something dumb was another. And her dignity was already falling apart. Pretty soon Kari was sniffling.

"I made a complete idiot of myself, just standing between them all stupid-like," Kari said pitifully, "I think it was some sort of sign, Yolei. If TK was really supposed to answer my questions, then Amber never would of came. A-and there was another sign!"

Kari was now talking non-stop and it all seemed like gibberish to Yolei, "Like, the whole day, all I heard was best friend this, and best friend that! As if that's what I'm supposed to be all the time, because that's what I hear! All. The. Time! Like, Oh, I'm so glad we're best friends. Oh, I'm you're best friend and I'll always protect you. Oh, I'm you're best friend forever and ever and always remember that! So that's what's we're supposed to be, right? If it wasn't, then all of those signs wouldn't have…"

"Kari!" Yolei exclaimed, slamming her fork on the table, "Calm down. Seriously. Take a breather. Just because you always see it and hear it, doesn't mean it's a sign."

Kari knew about Yolei's short temper, and almost everyone feared it, but she had to get her point across.

"But it IS, Yolei! Not just the whole best friend deal, but the fact that even after the rejection, we're _still _best friends. Think about it. I had the CHANCE to finally become his girlfriend, after so many years I waited for that day, but I let go of that chance because the words BEST FRIEND slapped me in the face. It was literally pulling me back, which is why I rejected him. It's practically saying that if I had said yes to TK then, it was going to ruin everything! The whole best friend gut feeling got to me, a-and I just stuck with my instinct…and TK's h-happy and…"

"But YOU'RE not happy, Kari!"

"Yes, I am!" Kari stammered out annoyingly, staying in denial, "Why does everyone say that I'm not? I am happy! I am happy that I'm his best friend!"

"Kari, are you _really_?" Yolei shot back, equally annoyed from her denial, "I mean, c'mon! Here you are, crying over the fact that you guys are just best friends, yet you claim that it's okay? You claim that you're soo happy with your friendship with TK, yet you're going crazy because that's all you think you guys will ever be? Um. Last time I checked, you still like TK! And newsflash, Kari, he still likes you too! So don't even dare try to say that's all you'll ever be, because in my opinion, you're just scared!"

"Scared?" Kari questioned, almost insulted.

"Yes, scared!" Yolei shot back, temper now rising, "You're scared of taking risks, Kari! You always have been! Especially after TK asked you out!"

Now, Kari was fully insulted. To her, that was just uncalled for, even if it was true. Scoffing in disbelief, she reached over for her purse that was on the ground and threw it across her shoulders. While she stood half-up, she thought of something and looked straight at Yolei. She gave her a sarcastic chuckle and shook her head.

"You know, Yolei? This is all your fault!" she stabbed, eyes now watering, "Everything was perfectly fine before all of this! If-if you haven't told me that…that I wasn't happy with what I have with TK then I would never have even thought about it! N-now I'm starting see our friendship as a bad thing! Yolei, that…I…that's just so wrong! I would have never even spent the whole night crying and thinking about what you said and if you were right! Because you're NOT right, okay? You're not right! I'm happy being TK's best friend! Everything was just fine the way it was!"

Breathing heavily, she stared into Yolei's shocked eyes before she turned on her heel and made her way quickly to the door. Yolei just sat there, stunned, trying to take in all that Kari just threw at her. Yolei was a quick, deep thinker, so realizing Kari was wrong was almost instant. Shaking her head out of her thoughts, she quickly grabbed her stuff and ran after Kari. However, it was when Kari only stepped out of the café when she started to feel guilty. Kari stopped in her tracks and just froze, suddenly feeling the warm embrace of her friend from behind. Kari didn't even need an explanation of why Yolei didn't just leave. Kari knew she was wrong, and obviously, Yolei knew that all along. Kari just covered her face with both her hands and managed to speak.

"Y-you're right, Yolei," Kari choked, trying her hardest not to break down, "I'm sorry. I am scared, and I am a wimp. I…I thought that I can just live with just being best friends because t-that's what we've been for so long. I thought that everything was just perfect the way it was because it never c-changed…"

Yolei sighed, and let go of her embrace. She turned Kari around to face her, and gripped softly on Kari's arm to take it off her face. Kari sniffled and just covered her mouth with her free arm. Yolei looked worriedly into Kari's eyes, hand now on her shoulder for comfort.

"But everything _isn't_ perfect, Kari," Yolei said, as comfortingly as she can, "You shouldn't try living with something that hurts you. And the only reason it never changed is because you won't let anything happen."

Kari gave her a confused look with her wet eyes. Yolei thought of a way to explain it.

"It's true, Kari. You won't let anything happen. Don't say that I'm not right. Because think about it. You have a chance everyday to do something about you and TK. You have a chance everyday to confess about how you feel. You have a chance everyday to make TK yours. Sorry for my repetition girl, but you chance everyday to take away that pain but you DON'T because you're scared. Kari, listen to me. Change is not always bad. Neither is taking a risk."

"But when you don't know what you're getting yourself into, then it just makes it harder to do something about it!" said Kari, leaning against the café walls and wiping away her tears, "I don't want something that's already so good to turn into something so bad."

Yolei laughed, smacking herself on the forehead before leaning against the wall right next to Kari. Kari stared at her oddly.

"Helloooo, Earth to Kari, that's what a risk is all about! Of course you won't know what you're getting yourself into! That's what it's called a 'risk', duh!" Yolei's laughter softened, and she flashed Kari a kind smile, "Kari, you'll never know what's going to happen until you give it a chance. And who knows, maybe it'll end up becoming something way better."

Kari took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. Everything Yolei said was right. She always had a chance, but she always has been afraid of putting her friendship at risk. TK was more than just her best friend, and if she lost him, then that would be…well, just devastating. But she had to try.

"…I'm scared."

"So was he."

Kari looked at her for a moment, then sighed. She was right again. Of course it must've been hard and fearful for TK to ask out his best friend. TK, most likely, had the same dilemma Kari was having right now. He was risking his friendship at the time to try to get with her. Plus, he actually took that risk. _"And if he was willing to risk all that, and if we were still able to stay friends," _thought Kari, _"Then I have nothing to lose, right?" _Kari stretched off the wall and gave Yolei a finally graceful smile. She hugged Yolei tightly. How lucky she was to have a short-tempered, mood-swinging, straight-forward yet understanding friend like Yolei.

"Thanks for everything," Kari said, happily, "I think I finally know what I'm going to do."

Late afternoon,

Kari threw in a handful of strawberries into the blender to join the sliced bananas. Smoothies always made Kari feel better. Humming cutely to herself, she swayed over to the fridge to get some yogurt. As she opened it, she heard to doorbell ring. Setting that aside and sucking off the yogurt from her fingers, she walked over to the door and opened it. Her eyes widened and her face turned red. It would be _him_ when she looks like a complete mess.

"Good afternoon, pretty lady!" grinned her best friend, holding out a bag filled with baked sweets, "Feeling better? I've brought some banana muffins."

Kari's finger was still in my mouth as she stared up and down at TK. TK was just grinning like the grinning-fool that he was. Her face turned more red, and she found herself too embarrassed too even move. It was even more embarrassing that he wasn't saying anything. TK just chuckled and poked her nose.

"Without the nuts, don't worry!" he said, smiling before letting himself in, "I know you have some strange peanut phobia."

He entered the room, leaving Kari just standing there. After a few long seconds, Kari finally managed her finger out of her mouth and she slowly closed the door. _"What the heck?" _Kari thought, still a bit surprised from her best friend's randomness (even though that was how TK was on a daily basis). Clearing her throat, she locked the door and walked into the kitchen where TK was. He set the bag on the table and looked around. He looked at the unattended blender and yogurt on the counter, then back at her.

"Making the infamous Kari smoothie?" he asked.

"Y-yeah," she replied, rubbing the back of her neck, "Do you want some?"

TK gave her a dumb look, and a small pout. Kari couldn't help but laugh. She loved that face of his. It was threateningly cute. She started to feel good; it's been a while since she actually felt…happy. And to think, it just took a stupid pout from her best friend. She playfully smacked him on the side of his arm and walked towards the blender.

"Okay, okay, I'll make us some," she said, pouring the yogurt into the blender, "Good thing you brought snacks. Just bring the muffins to my room. We'll just eat in there. The kitchen and living room is dirty. Oh, and don't forget to take off your shoes. I just cleaned my room. Try not to mess anything up!"

"Yes, your highness," TK laughed as he removed his shoes while making his way to Kari's room.

Once Kari heard his footsteps stop, Kari let out a deep breath. _"He sure seems happy," _Kari thought, a bit confused, _"Not that it's a bad thing. Especially after I just left him hanging yesterday. I thought he'd at least be a bit disappointed in me." _Kari removed those negative thoughts off her head. She decided to be glad that all is going well for the both of them right now. She smiled. Once she had all the ingredients in the blender, she plugged it in and turned it on.

Meanwhile, with TK…

TK set aside his shoes next to the door before entering her room. He let his school bag slid down his shoulder. He looked around and blinked. _"Hm," _he thought, surprised, _" She really did clean her room." _He slowly walked in, swaying the bag of muffins back and forth as he did so. He instantly regretted it, once he felt something round on the bottom of his shoe. Before he could make up what it was, his foot already tried to move, causing him to clumsily lose his balance. Unexpectedly, he slipped and felt his foot hit Kari's drawer. The stack of books on her drawer crumbled down. Grunting, he looked up, not realizing he let go of the muffin bag. His eyes grew wide. Pushing himself up, he skidded towards the box and grabbed it just in time before it hit the ground. He almost grinned in pride. That is, before he looked at the mess he just made. Books were scattered everywhere, and her lamp was pushed down.

"So much for not messing anything up," TK whispered sarcastically, rubbing his head, "How did that happen anyways?"

Suddenly, he heard to noise of the blender stop.

"TK, is everything okay?" Kari yelled from the kitchen, "I heard a thud!"

"E-everything's fine!" TK called back, alarmed, "Don't worry!"

The blender went back on, but knowing Kari, she was going to be there any second now. As if his life depended on it, he quickly got up and gathered all the books that were scattered on the floor. He piled the books as neatly and as quickly as he can back on the drawer. He looked around to see if he forgot any books, and realizing that there was none, he sat down on the floor and let out a deep breath in relief. Although, once he sat, he felt something against his bottom. He pulled out the thing from under him and stared at it funny. It was a pink book. He turned it over and almost dropped it in shock.

"Kari's…diary?" TK whispered, oblivious to the fact that his best friend even owned something like this.

"TK! I'm about to come in! Can you hold the door for me please, I don't want to spill anything!"

Kari's voice literally made him jump to his feet. She was turning the door knob. Panicking, and while keeping eye on the door, he stuffed the diary in some bag near her drawer. He figured that since there were many bags near her drawer, she'll just think it fell in there by mistake. Stumbling up to his feet, he ran towards the door and opened it.

"Heeey, Kari," he said, grinning awkwardly, flipping his hair out of his eyes.

Kari raised a brow, "Took you long enough. What happened?" She then glared, "What did you do?"

"N-nothing!" TK said, waving his arms in front of him for protection, "That thud was me. I slipped."

"Slipped?" Kari asked, tilting her head a bit, "Slipped on what? I just cleaned my floor!"

"I don't even know," TK said slowly, just as confused, but soon forgot all about it once he saw the smoothies, "Wow, Kari! Those look great. Let's go eat now, I'm starving! I haven't eaten at all today."

Kari stared at him oddly as he sat down, grabbed the bag and pulled out the muffin box, "You didn't eat at all? 'Til now? Not even at school?"

"Nope," he replied, pulling out some napkins.

"Why not?"

"I missed you too much."

Kari stared at TK in awe. His response was so quick. She felt her face grow warmer as she stared, by being touched by such simple, yet sweet words. As she stared at TK, she couldn't help but feel waves of emotions crash upon her. She was happy that she had somebody who cared that much about her; somebody who was willing to surprise her with her favorite baked good even after she ignored their call 53 times. Although, she felt guilty for the same reason. She threw him off so many times yesterday, and yet he was treating her the same. She felt like she didn't deserve such kindness. Sighing, she slowly sat on the floor in front of him and set down the smoothies. TK looked up from what he was doing, noticing Kari's sudden change in mood. He looked at her worriedly.

"Why do you look so down," he asked, as he held out a muffin towards her, "I promise there's no nuts-!"

"I'm sorry," Kari blurted out shyly, spinning her muffin around with her fingers, "For missing so many of your calls. A-and for just leaving you hanging like that. I…I just didn't know what to say. B-but I am happy for you, I really am. And I'm sorry for after school that day. I know that's pretty rude of me to ask, especially now that…"

Kari restrained herself from saying Amber's name. She knew it would just make things more awkward than it already was. She cleared her throat and decided to leave it at that. She figured if she continued, she'd break down again. She hesitantly looked up towards TK, who was also fidgeting around with his muffin. He looked deep in thought, causing Kari to feel a bit nervous. Kari looked down. She hated looking straight at people if she senses something bad is going to happen. She heard TK softly chuckle, which confused her. Suddenly, out of nowhere, she felt a muffin get shoved against her lips from under her face. Once she raised up her head, she saw TK playfully pushing the muffin into her mouth. Kari glared and opened her mouth to yell.

Mistake.

The top part of the muffin got into her mouth, and when it just stayed there, TK finally let go, grinning stupidly. Kari twitched and glared at him. TK gave her an innocent smile and took another muffin from the box and tossed it up and down in his hand. He took a bite and laughed.

"It really suits you, Kari," he laughed, tossing his bitten muffin up and down again, "You look really-mmph!"

Kari grabbed the muffin when it was in the air, and jabbed it into his mouth. Lucky for Kari he talks a lot; makes it easier for the muffin to shut him up. She grinned evilly as she let go of the muffin and wiped her hands on his shirt.

"Touché," Kari smiled.

TK bit the muffin to let it fall, chewed and swallowed. After, he gave Kari a weird smile that sort of freaked her out. He picked up his muffin, and took another bite. Kari raised her eyebrows. Now he was teasing her. He takes advantage of the fact that she's easily paranoid, and she knows that. She bit her lip, and now looked a bit scared. TK just smirked. Kari couldn't take it anymore.

"TK! Oh my god! If you're going to do something, just do it already!" she whined, swaying her hands up, accidentally hitting TK with her muffin, "Oh my gosh! Are you okay? I…I didn't meant to! Y-you know I tend to panic with things like this a-and…ugh! This is all your fault! Gah, don't hurt me!"

Kari covered her face with her arms in self defense in case of a muffin war. She closed her eyes shut and prepared herself. She heard some type of rustling, which indicated that TK was now moving. She braced herself. She felt his presence get close. Really close. She felt his breath tickling her arm. Now that was a bit too close for comfort. Before Kari was able to bring down her arms to see what TK was up too, TK used both hands and poked both her sides. Kari gasped and before she knew it, she got herself stuck in a tickle war. Kari was super ticklish, which made this an automatic win for TK.

"T-TK! Ahaha s-s-stop! Ahaha T-TK! C'mon!" Kari laughed, trying to push him off, "Y-You win! Ahaha! Stop!"

"You asked for this," TK laughed, "No one throws a muffin at me and gets away with it!"

Kari laughed uncontrollably as she struggled to wiggle out of his grip. As hard as she could, she pushed against his grip, causing him to lean back. Seeing that it was working, and that the tickling started to decrease, she found an opening to victory. She, with all her might, pushed harder against his grip. Surprisingly, it seemed simpler to do, for his body leaned back much easier this time. _"As if he's not even trying anymore," _Kari thought, confusingly. TK looked at her softly in the eyes, causing her to suddenly feel weak. She felt her body slowly fall towards his, with his hands still gripped on her arms. Before she could end her thoughts, Kari had already 'pushed' TK straight to the ground and 'pinned' him. Their eyes remained locked. Kari's hair slowly fell upon her shoulder, tickling TK's cheek as she held her body slightly above his with her grip now on TK's arms. As awkward as the position was, no one moved. Both teens just stared into each other's eyes, speechless. Kari and TK were catching their breath from all the laughing, and abruptly the room seemed quiet. No noise were present except the sound of their breathing, and their rapid heart beats. Kari stared deeply into TK's cool, misty blue eyes and quickly found herself lost in them. She opened her mouth to speak, but she was at a loss of words. She was literally face to face with her best friend; face to face with the only one she would ever allow to hold her heart. And most importantly, face to face with the boy she is hopelessly in love with. Her emotions became harder to bear as seconds passed. She felt her face become warm as TK continued to stare into her eyes, steadily breathing. He slowly raised his forearm and softly stroked her cheek with a sweet smile.

"I am really lucky to have you, Kari," TK whispered genuinely, "I really am."

Her emotions crashed. She could no longer hold and bear the many voices going through her head. Kari was no longer in control of her mind. She slowly closed her eyes and moved her face closer to his. Her face inched in closer, and closer. She then felt his calm, warm breathing hit against her lips. TK's hands slowly slid down from her cheek, and before he was even able to blink…

She kissed him.

Kari's lips softly pressed against his own, suddenly feeling an army of butterflies flutter around her stomach. A warm, shocking sensation traveled along her body, and it only made her want more of that strange, but wonderful, feeling. Her lips gradually kissed his, and if she wasn't going crazy, she could feel him kissing her back just as lovingly. She felt…amazing. Everything just seemed perfect. Kari, after so long, was finally kissing her best friend.

…She was kissing her best friend.

Kari's eyes shot wide open in shock. She just now realized what she was doing. She quickly pushed herself off TK, and stumbled back against the wall, still feeling light headed and dizzy over everything that just happened. Kari covered her mouth in daze, feeling completely, and utterly ashamed of herself. TK, who was just as shocked, stood up and looked at Kari. Kari again looked in his eyes, but the moment after, she swiftly turned around with her back facing him. She couldn't look at him. She just couldn't. Especially not after what she just did. She couldn't handle this anymore. She couldn't look at him, and she didn't want him to look at like this, like a complete fool. TK automatically felt her pain, and he reached for her shoulder, but she unexpectedly shrugged it off.

"Go away," Kari whispered through her hands.

"W-what?" TK asked, appalled.

"J-just leave!" Kari said a bit louder, now covering her eyes as she felt the tears coming on.

"Kari, calm down-"

"Leave me alone, TK!" Kari cried, "J-just go and..and…"

TK didn't leave. He couldn't find the will-power to move, especially seeing his best friend in this sort of state. Kari was now covering her mouth to prevent her cries. Her muffled cries made TK feel like the worst, for it seemed like he's the reason why she's in so much pain. He took a step towards her, but Kari again managed to speak.

"I'm…I'm so sorry, TK," Kari slowly said, "B-but please leave. P-please…I need to…I need some time to…I don't know what came over me, I…P-please T-TK, just l-leave. I…I don't know w-what else to…just please…"

At this point, TK had no other choice. His presence only gave her more pain, and that was something he could no longer afford. He quietly grabbed his bag and made his way towards the door. He paused and took a small look at Kari, who was covering her mouth and staring straight at the wall to avoid eye-contact. TK sighed shamefully at the sight at his pained friend, and with nothing else to say, he left the room. Once Kari heard the front door close, she just broke down on the spot. She leaned against the wall and slid down, hand still covering her mouth as she cried. _"I just kissed my best friend," _Kari thought, _"I just kissed my best friend and I'm crying. I thought this is what I wanted…I thought this is what's supposed to make me happy. B-but I did feel extremely happy. More than happy."_

"Then why am I pushing him away?" Kari whispered, completing her thoughts.

Kari shakily made her way to the muffins to clean up. As she sat down, her thoughts came back again to answer her question. An instant wave of regret hit her. She regretted telling TK to leave. She regretted breaking off the kiss. There was no point. He likes her. She likes him. She kissed him. He kissed her back. This was one of those chances that Yolei told her about that she has, and she yet again let go of that chance. All because the words 'best friend' slapped her in the face all over again. She messed up that chance to finally win his heart, and she only had herself to blame.

**TBC**

**Woo, that took me a while. Starting to sound like a soap opera, no? Well, I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and that you're willing to wait for the next. Hopefully I'm doing alright with this. It may take me longer to update on the next, and LAST (maybe), chapter because I really want to make it great. So I'll need some time to think. (dramatic voice: TK is lucky to have Kari. As what? A best friend or as the girl he can always love? Stay tuned and find out in the next chapter of "I Love You, BF!" ) **

…**Sorry, that sounded much cooler in my head. **

**R&R please and thank you! **


	3. Chapter 3

Ugh, guess what guys? I'm sick. =( Totally lame. Makes it hard to think. Yay for insomnia! (*cough) So sorry for the delay in update. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the previous the 2 chapters. 'Kay, have fun reading! This may be a bit long.

By the way, I lied. This is not the last chapter. Sorry!

I Love You, BF!

**by iJutsu**

**Chapter 3**

TK sat there on his bed. He just sat there, completely taken back with everything that just happened in the past two days. He looked up and the first thing that caught his eye was a photo frame of him and Kari at the beach, doing their infamous 'peace' pose. TK twitched. Even wherever he looked it was Kari. He loosened his uniform tie to breath more easily as if he were being suffocating by his own thoughts. Which he was. He rested his forehead on his hand, trying hard to think things through. _"Kari kissed me," _he thought worriedly, but then found a silly smile creep to his lips, _"Kari KISSED me. She actually kissed me…" _With his free hand, he place a finger on his lips, still remembering the feeling. It was just amazing, physically and mentally. TK's heart felt as if it was going to explode; a feeling he never once experienced with those other girls. To think, this all started because of a muffin war.

TK paused and went deeper into thought. _"How did this all happen?" _he thought, closing his eyes tight as if it were to help him think harder, _"She threw a muffin at me. Then I started tickling her and…ugh." _He brought himself back to the moment where him and Kari were 'fighting'. TK's eyes opened slowly, as he remembered what made him act that way. It started when Kari starting pushing him down. He remembered looking deep into her eyes and getting completely in his thoughts about how beautiful she was, how gracefully playful she was, and how simply amazing she just was. He was face to face with the girl of his dreams, so he couldn't blame himself for losing his mind. TK then sighed, remembering what he said about how lucky he was to have her. _"I wonder how Kari interpreted that…" _TK thought, hating himself for not being specific enough (especially since Kari had the tendency to over-think things). As the good thoughts of the kiss and the beauty of his best friend faded away, thoughts of what happened right after started filling in. TK felt a guilty, and horrible feeling travel in his body. The first thing that came to mind was the Kari's pained face, and the harsh tears that slid down on it. TK let out a grunt and pounded on his leg with his free hand. He hated seeing her like that, especially if it was his fault. More than anything in the world, he hated seeing Kari cry. It was like a gun-shot straight to the heart.

And that's how he left her. Crying. Even though she told him to leave, he still shouldn't have. He should of stayed, and comforted her. Like a best friend should. But he didn't, which just made more guilt dwell up in his head. _"I have to apologize," _TK thought, slowly standing up, _"I can't make her fall asleep feeling like that." _He walked towards his school bag that he earlier threw in the back of his room from frustration. He picked it up and searched through it for his phone, but somehow he couldn't feel it. Getting a bit annoyed, he walked over to his bed and dumped everything out on the sheets. Although, the first thing that caught his eye wasn't his phone. Instead it was a pink book, laying flat down in the middle of the scattered mess. TK's eyes widened. _"Oh my god, please don't tell me this is…"_

"Kari's diary," TK whispered, in shock.

He just stood there. Like a statue. Staring at it. His mind was fighting over whether he should even touch it. _"How the hell did this even end up in my bag…oh." _He then remembered him just clumsily stuffing it in one of the bags near her drawer without looking. Out of all those bags, it just _had_ to be his. The longer he stared, the more he got paranoid; as if Kari was going to pop out of his window and stab him. TK twitched. He had to think of something, instead of just standing there idle like a dork with a pink book right in the middle of his bed. He cleared his throat.

"I…I should clean up," he said to himself persuasively.

He started picking up all the stuff he dropped on his bed and placed them back in his bag one by one, hoping to somehow get the book without even noticing. Of course, that didn't work, because the very last thing on his bed was the diary. He twitched. He was back to square one: standing there and staring at the devious pink book that teased him. He didn't know what to do. So many negative emotions were hitting him at once: guilt, panic, and temptation. He was guilty for taking her diary and not having the will-power to grab his phone right now and tell her he has it. And he felt guilty for not telling her he dropped the books in the first place. He took a deep breath. Now he was starting to panic with the thoughts of what would of happened if he told her. _"Oh god," _TK grunted, _"How am I going to give it back to Kari? Well, it's better than her finding out on her own. B-but what if DOES she finds out? What am I going to say? She'll never trust me again! She'll…ugh!" _If there was one thing TK learned in his life time, it was to never touch a girl's diary. Ever. It was like their sanctuary. A place for deep, dark secrets that are not to be told to anyone. Hell would break loose if it ever fell in the wrong hands.

TK blinked. Secrets. As far as TK knows, he's pretty sure him and Kari have no secrets between each other. At least, that's not what he thinks now, considering he just now found out his best friend has a diary. _"Does this mean Kari's been hiding something from me?" _he thought, disappointingly, eying the pink book. He didn't want to believe that there was actually stuff that Kari wasn't capable of telling _him_, her best friend. He remembered way back when they were merely kids when they made a promise to each other to never keep anything from each other. TK doubted it, but he couldn't help but feel a bit down at the thought. But the feeling of not knowing was killing him. Taking another deep breath, he slowly reached for the pink book. His heart was racing, and he was getting pretty annoyed from his nervousness. What harm was it going to do? He finally picked it up and stared at it in his hands. Finally his heart dropped. He was basically breaking Kari's trust the longer he held it; not to mention he was invading her privacy. He should respect that. _"Besides," _he thought, chuckling to himself nervously, _"What's the worst that she can have in here, anyways? I-it's probably just about how much Davis annoys her, or how much Tai nags, or…or about her past crushes…or about a certain boy…" _

"TK! Dinner's ready!" Matt yelled from outside his room.

TK jumped a bit from the sound of his brother's voice. He accidentally dropped the book on the floor. TK finally snapped out of his thoughts and responded. "I'll be there in a minute!"

Hearing Matt say his usual 'whatever', TK looked down to pick up the book. But he froze in his spot, seeing that the book was opened. The book was opened up to a certain page, and the first thing he noticed were three, big, bolded words:

I love you, BF.

"B…F?" TK said to himself, slowly, "Doesn't BF mean boyfri-…"TK's eyes widened.

"Kari has a boyfriend?" he literally blurted out in shock, "W-what? No way…!"

Without even giving it a second thought, he quickly picked up the diary and stared hard at the page. There was nothing else on it but those three words. No hints. No names. Nothing. Just those words. Although, TK knew Kari never really had a boyfriend, and if she did, he'd be the first to know about it. _"Could this be what she's been hiding from me?" _he thought in slight panic. Not knowing what it meant was killing him. He basically lost all sense of respect and dignity as he found himself flipping over to the first page. He scanned through the page, trying to ignore the guilt that was weighing heavily upon him. The first thing he noticed was the date. April 15, 2009. TK blinked. That was the date when he asked her out. _"If this is the first entry, then that must mean she started writing just after I asked her to be my girlfriend…" _TK thought confusingly. And if the ask out didn't go so well, most likely her words in the diary didn't go out so well either. TK gulped, debating or not if he should continue reading. Nonetheless, he found himself reading the first line anyways.

_I waited for this chance for so long, and now it's gone. _

TK was now really confused. _"Wait, what 'chance' is she talking about? Didn't she reject me?" _he thought, not understanding the depression from that statement, _"Is she talking about me asking her out?" _Perhaps something else happened to her that day, aside from him. He wouldn't know, which gave him another excuse to continue reading.

_All my life I wondered how it would be like to be TK's girlfriend. Then TK asked me out. TK asked me to finally become his girlfriend. After soo long of waiting, it finally came. You'd think I'd feel more ecstatic about this, right? Yeah, me too. I even prepared for year what I was going to say. "Yes, TK, of course. I've been waiting oh so long for this moment." But that's not what came out of my mouth. In fact it was the complete opposite. I told him straight out NO. Why? I don't even know. No, wait. Yes I do. Because I'm pathetic, that's why. It wasn't because I was too nervous. It wasn't because I didn't know what to say. It was because we're best friends. Best friends. We've been best friends for only Lord knows how long. He's always there for me. He makes me smile. He's mainly the reason for my happiness. He's able to be all that just by being my best friend. I don't want to lose that all because of a relationship gone wrong. What I have with TK is already so special. I can't afford to lose that. To lose him…_

TK found his hands slightly shaking as he read. He took in long, deep breathes. He didn't want to believe any of this. He didn't want to believe that Kari's been hurting since that day, and he had no clue. Especially since she did tell him that she was okay, and that it no longer bothered her. He started to feel down, now realizing how much Kari's been hiding from him. This time, unresistingly, he flipped through the pages and decided to read another one out of random. He turned to a page that wasn't even 1/4th full. It only had just a sentence or two.

_I bought TK a teddy bear for his birthday. So did she. Not much to say now. _

TK never received a teddy bear from Kari. Recently, anyways. He looked at the date. It was from his birthday last year. A girl named Belle gave him a bear, which could probably who Kari referred to as 'she'. He came to realize that Kari decided to not give TK his birthday gift, because Belle beat her to it. He raised a brow, finding that a silly reason to not give him the bear. Although, he can't really blame her, since apparently he doesn't know how her mind works/worked anymore. Even so, he started to feel guilty. _"What does this mean?" _TK thought, frustratingly, _"Was she jealous…?" _Before jumping to conclusions, he flipped to another random page, and landed on a rather long entry.

_TK told me he loves me. Even though he tells me this practically everyday, I don't know. It used to make me really happy and giddy. Not like it doesn't anymore. I mean, like, we're best friends. It's like no big deal to us. But now…it's starting to hurt. It's been a few months after he asked me out. Now that I know that TK really loves me more than just a best friend…I don't know. It just hurts. Whenever he says he loves me, I don't know what he means. Does he love me as a best friend now? Or does he still love me…like a girlfriend? Or is it both? It just makes me feel real bad. For him, and for me. I really don't know how to explain this feeling. Maybe the fact that I love him too makes me hurt more. I love him, and now that I know he loves me too, it hurts knowing that we're not together. Or maybe it just hurts because TK keeps telling me he loves me, while he thinks that I don't. I should of told him. But I didn't. And that's the past. Nothing else I can do. TK, I'm sorry. I don't know if it still hurts you, but I'm sorry. I really am. _

TK felt something in his throat. It seemed dry. He tried to breathe, but he found it a bit shaky. He had no idea how much him asking her out affected her this much. He had no idea merely saying "I Love You" hurt her this much, nor did he have any idea that she thought so much of it. Finding the will-power to go through one more page, he randomly turned to another and the first name he noticed was Amber. He read from there.

…_Amber. Of course TK would like her. She's a beauty. She's funny. She's smart. Just like Sheila. Just like Belle. Just like Daisy. Just like Janelle. Just like…ugh. Here we go again, Kari. Time to do your duties as a b[\est friend and make him happy. Time to get him that girl. Time to hurt yourself again for him. All over again. But it's worth, Kari. Just keep telling yourself that. You're making your best friend, and the boy you love, happy. And that's what best friends do…right?_

TK slammed the book closed. He literally found himself shaking. His mouth trembled a little as the book shook in his hand. After all this time, she's been hurting. She's been hurting because of him. She's been hurting herself to make him happy. And all the while, he thought everything was okay. He thought she was okay. But she wasn't. And he was too blind to see that. Even as her best friend. He felt like a failure, and he felt shameful. Shameful for reading her diary, shameful for not realizing anything, and shameful for not protecting Kari like he promised. He covered his face with his hand and gritted his teeth in frustration.

"Dammit…"

_**The next morning, **_

"TAI !"

In a matter of seconds, the oldest Kamiya came running in Kari's room, swaying a fly swatter furiously around him.

"Kari! What's the matter? You okay?"

"I-I'm fine, it's just…!" Kari rustled out of her closet, caught eye of her brother and raised a brow, "What were you going to do? Fly swat someone to death?"

Tai scoffed. "Well, you screamed like you were getting murdered, so I figured I'd protect you."

"With a fly swatter?" Kari said stupidly, but shook her mind off that, "Never mind that! It's missing, Tai! I can't find it!"

"Can't find what?"

"MY DIARY!" Kari blurted out desperately, "I placed it on top of my drawer and now it's missing! TAI, OH MY GOD, help me find it! I've been looking all morning!"

Tai blinked and stared around the room. Her room looked as if a tornado passed through it. Clothes were scattered everywhere, her mattress was flipped over, books dead on the floor- all for the search of a little pink book. Tai looked at his little sister run frantically around her room. It seemed like she was the tornado. Noticing his stares, she glared at him.

"Tai! Don't just stand there! Help me!" she whined, shaking him.

"Kari, calm down," he said, cupping her face with his one hand, squeezing her cheeks, "Now think. Where did you last put it, and who was the last person in your room? Not to scare you that it may have been stolen, but just think about it. To be safe."

Kari glared at Tai, with his hands still squeezing her cheeks to make her look like a duck. Ignoring that, she started to think. It's only been 2 days since she last wrote on it. She wrote on it, and left it on the floor, but she did clean up her room that morning and placed it on top of her drawer. Tai didn't take it, because he would of obviously given it back by now (nor would he even dare to touch it). She thought harder , _"Huh. The last person in my room was…"_

"…T…K?" she thought out loud, now shaking off Tai's hand off her face, "TK was last in my room…"

"So then maybe TK…"

"N-no!" Kari immediately protested, "TK would never have touched it. He doesn't even know I have one! Plus, even if he did, he wouldn't do that to me.."

Kari sat down on her mattress, that was now on the floor, and thought even harder. _"TK told me he tripped. And when I came to the room, he looked like he just ran a marathon or something. Or as if he was guilty about something…" _Kari looked around the room. She stared at her drawer, and then at the books on the floor. Now that she thought about it, she realized that the books were not in the same order once TK left. She always color codes her books, and she remembered that they weren't coordinated before she threw them around the room. Worry and fear started to grow inside of her. _"Maybe when TK tripped, he probably accidentally dropped all the books and ended up seeing my diary…B-but that doesn't mean he'd take it! He would of put it back.." _Kari then started thinking of it in a more realistic way. If TK had a diary, and she somehow was able to get a hold of it, she's guilty to admit that she would. Considering that it's so tempting to even _see _the love of your life's diary, she would understand if TK actually had taken her diary. Kari's eyes widened a little, realizing that. Tai stared at her funny, and then sat right next to her.

"What's up, lil sis?" he asked, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, "You look deep in thought."

"TK has my diary, Tai," she finally admitted slowly, eyes still wide, "He has my diary…"

Tai looked at her just as shocked, "TK? Best friend-goofy-blond haired boy TK? Are you sure?"

Kari just stared at him with her big, wide, non-blinking eyes and nodded. Her breathing started to go bad as she started breathing more heavily. She now started to panic, and Tai immediately noticed. Kari tightly gripped onto Tai's arms and shook him.

"Oh. My. God. Tai! TK has my diary!" she almost yelled (as if she now just noticed), shaking him furiously, "And I can't just ask for it back! 'Cos what if he _doesn't_ have it? And it's like I'm accusing him or something, but OH MY GOD. I'm pretty sure that he does have my diary! Tai, help me!"

"K-Kari calm down!" Tai said, holding on to her hands to make her stop shaking him, "Even if he does, what's the worst that can happen?"

"Um, he'll READ it?"

"C'mon, it can't be _that_ bad."

Kari gave him a death glare. Tai winced, already knowing the answer. He sighed. Tai knew all about Kari's crush on TK, and being her protective older brother, he also knew about what happened after TK asked her out. She hasn't been exactly stable after that. Tai doesn't need to read Kari's diary to understand the pain she's been going through since last year. That's the only thing he's mad at TK for. TK's her best friend, yet he doesn't realize that she's hurting? Shaking his head in slight disappointment, he hugged his sister comfortingly and thought of an idea.

" How about you get your mind off things? It seems like you've been having a lot on your mind the past few days. There's a carnival going on near the beach. Why don't you go? Bring some girl friends. I'm sure it'll be fun."

"I can't," Kari sighed, "TK's going to be there with Amber. And after what happened, I really don't want to see him. Especially not with her."

"C'mon, Kari! You can't let TK prevent you from having any fun! It's not like you always have to go with TK everywhere you go. Go with Yolei, or some other girl. Just act like he's not there! C'monnn, Kari!" Tai sighed and hugged her, "Kari, you can't expect happiness to come to you. You have to make it happen. So not doing anything isn't really the best idea. Plus, Idon't want you staying home, suffocating yourself with your thoughts. Go out. Have fun. Make yourself happy. You deserve it."

Kari sighed again. Obviously Tai didn't know about the kiss incident that happened last night, so he doesn't know why the diary wasn't the only reason why it would be awkward for her. But he was right. It was about time she made herself happy, and not anybody else. Especially TK. She could probably call up Yolei and go to the carnival. She did remember Yolei telling her days ago that she wanted to go for the free t-shirts, so it shouldn't be a problem. The only problem was actually being there, trying to avoid TK. Her and TK usually always go to carnivals and such events together, so it's going to be hard for her to adapt to it. But then again, Tai was right. She can't always go with TK everywhere, especially if he has a date. She looked at Tai and gave him a soft smile.

"Thanks, Tai," she said, stretching, "Say, are you going to go?"

"I'll be there at the beach, but not at the carnival," Tai smiled, "Date with Sora. I want to make it special."

Kari smiled at how happy Tai was. She always loved hearing about Tai and Sora. They were so very much in love. They've been dating for about three years now. Tai and Sora practically known each other since diapers, and eventually, as they grew older together, they fell in love. Kari envied it a little, because that's exactly what she wanted with TK, since she also grew up with him and ended up falling in love with him as they got older as well. It just didn't work as well as it did with Tai. Kari pouted and slowly rested her head on Tai's shoulder.

"How did you do it?" Kari asked in a whisper, "H-how did you make it work out so perfectly? How did you guys wind up so happy together, even after so long of knowing each other? How are you able to maintain something so…beautiful?"

"Easy," he smiled, resting his head on top of hers, "I took a risk."

"Oh? What risk was that?"

"I fell in love with my best friend."

Late afternoon,

Kari glanced at her watch. The carnival has already started. It was still pretty early though, so Kari wasn't in any rush. She had already called up Yolei, and told her to meet her in front of the apartment building. Kari was just sitting on the stair case outside, waiting for her. She pulled her sweater on tighter and put on her hood. The wind was getting a bit more breezy and cool, which she liked. Just not when she was alone. She glanced up at the orange sky. She had to admit that she was a little nervous about the carnival. Even if her and TK just catch glances, or even just a glimpse of TK and Amber together, she already knows everything would go crashing down on her. Sighing, she pulled out her phone. Not one text or call from TK the whole day, which was odd. TK was usually the first and last person to text her everyday. Kari twitched, annoyed at the empty feeling she was now getting over just texts and phone calls. Kari yawned loudly and rubbed her eyes. Once she finished, she was immediately greeted by a big, bright smile. Kari laughed.

"Hey, Yolei."

"Hey Kari-Bari," Yolei smiled, failing at finding a good enough word to rhyme with Kari's name, "Ready?"

Kari just nodded as she got up and brushed herself off. Linking arms with Kari, they strolled down the street towards the beach. Luckily it was only a few blocks away from them. As Yolei continued on about the food and the rides and such, Kari couldn't help but think about TK. In fact, the closer they got to the beach, the more nervous Kari became. Her heart started racing a bit, and her face seemed uncomfortable. Of course, Yolei noticed. She just decided to take it slow with her assumptions this time.

"So…TK going to be at the carnival?"

Kari winced, remembering that, "Yeah. W-with Amber."

Yolei groaned. Just hearing that girl's name made her want to go straight to business. "Okay, Kari. What's wrong? And don't say 'Oh, nothing's wrong, Yolei'. I know you too well. So spill. If this is about Amber, I can surely kick her sorry as-"

Kari, already knowing that she can't hide anything from her, took a deep breath. "I kissed TK last night."

Yolei stopped in her tracks, causing Kari to jolt back since their arm's were linked. Kari let go and turned to Yolei, staring at her oddly. Apparently she was wrong this time. Yolei gave her a dumb and surprised look and scoffed.

"You tell me this now!" Yolei pouted, "What happened? How'd it happen? Why? What did TK do?"

To save Yolei from future questions, Kari tried to explain the situation as detailed as she can. They continued to walk as Kari spoke, "I don't know what happened actually. We were just playing around like we always do. Throwing muffins at each other, and tickling each other. I honestly know how that dumb kiss even happened. One minute we were laughing, the next we were basically making out."

"Whoa. That's one muffin fight," Yolei joked, but then got serious, "Okay, then? What happened after? Wait, did he kiss you back?"

"I-I don't know! I think he did. I'm not entirely sure. I stopped the kiss before I even realized what I was doing…"

"Why'd you stop the kiss? Why would you even _think_ about stopping? Why you didn't like it?"

Kari already sensed that Yolei wouldn't like her answer, "N-no it's not that! I loved it actually! I felt so…happy. So heart warming, so heart lifting, so…I don't even know how to explain that feeling Yolei. But…"

"But you didn't feel comfortable kissing TK simply because he's your best friend," finished Yolei, rolling her eyes. Kari was right. She didn't like her answer.

Kari winced, "Am I that predictable?"

Yolei sighed, "RISK it, Kari! Stop being a little baby! Man up! Make him yours! That was yet another perfect opportunity that you lost because of what? Being best friends? Try to forget about that the next time another chance flies by. As in, like, just see yourself as a girl who's madly in love with _TK_. Don't see yourself as a girl's who's madly in love with her _best friend_. You get what I'm saying?"

It took Kari a while to understand fully what she said, but then she nodded.

"Good. And forget about them for now. You and I are going to have a great time" Yolei huffed.

Kari chuckled softly. Then came an awkward silence that Yolei hated. Yolei cleared her throat and then eyed Kari playfully, "Soo…is he a good kisser?"

Kari blushed embarrassingly and punched Yolei in the arm, who was laughing jokingly. Before they knew it, they were already at the carnival. Loud music, joyful laughter, and the smell of fried goods filled the air. Yolei already looked excited. Kari looked around and smiled. Everybody seemed to be having a good time; with their spouse, with their friends, or with their family. It was adorable. It wasn't long, however, until TK unexpectedly popped out into her mind. She instantly started to feel paranoid. Yolei tugged Kari towards the stand where they were handing out free shirts. If it was free, Yolei was there. Kari stood timidly behind her as she looked (or rummaged) through the shirts on the stand. Kari turned around and decided to look at the carnival around her, seeing where she and Yolei should go next. Although, the moment she turned around was a mistake, for that's where she saw a certain tall blond boy from a distance…

Holding a rose.

**Meanwhile, with TK…**

TK just stood there stupidly, in the middle of a crowded carnival, glaring and twitching at himself. He couldn't get over how dumb he looked. There he was, just standing there in his lonesome, waiting for a certain girl to come and remove him from this awkward position he got himself in. He eyeballed around, and then sighed. There was no sign of her yet. Even though the girl never told him that she was actually going to be at the carnival, he actually had a good feeling that she was going to appear here sometime. His nervousness increased the longer he stood there. He kept receiving awkward stares from people as they passed, which really didn't help him at all. TK then heard some distance yelling, an argument most likely, coming from a distance. He blinked. It sounded like Yolei. He turned his head towards the sound and indeed it was Yolei, arguing with the sales person. TK's body tensed. _"If Yolei is here, then…" _His mouth suddenly curved into a smile. He looked around Yolei, and finally caught sight of the one's he's been waiting for.

"Kari…!" he whispered excitedly to himself.

In a few seconds, Kari's head turned, as if she heard him. The minute she turned around, her eyes immediately locked with TK's. She face fell, and suddenly a nervous expression was planted on her face. TK just stared in awe, still standing where he was and looking at Kari who was just feet away from him. _"Why can't I move?" _TK thought, annoyingly, _"She's right THERE. She's looking at YOU. It's your chance!" _No matter how much his thoughts attacked him, he still found himself frozen on the spot. His heart started racing. He was beyond nervous, because thoughts of the kiss, and thoughts of the diary came flying back into his head. But he was wasting precious seconds just standing there. Kari just stood there was well, staring at him back. She must be feeling the same way as TK, for she wasn't moving. Finally growing some courage, he took a deep breath and took a few steps towards her.

"TK!" came a voice from in front of him.

TK almost stumbled in his steps as he came to a stop to see who the voice was. His mouth dropped. _"Oh my God, not now…!" _And this wouldn't be the first time she killed a perfectly good moment. The girl beamed a bright and flashy smile at him.

"Amber, heyy," TK said awkwardly, rubbing his neck, "W-What are you doing here?"

Amber gave him a strange look. TK understood the look and felt like slapping himself. He just asked a person why she's at a carnival. Although, that didn't seem to be the reason why Amber looked at him that way.

"What?' she questioned, tilting her head, "You invited me here! From the letter with the flowers, rememberrr?"

It was TK's turn to return the look. _"Letter? What letter? And with the flowers? Huh?" _TK thought confusingly. He then thought harder, remembering that Kari's the one who bought the flowers. He then remembered the conversation he had with Kari that day:

"_In fact, I bet I'm good enough to book you and Amber a date this Saturday at that carnival thing going on near the beach."_

_"You're that good?"_

_"I'm that good."_

TK twitched. That means Kari also wrote a letter to Amber to ask her out on a date in the carnival. She was right though, she _was_ that good. After shaking his head off his thoughts, he noticed that Amber was still staring at him funny, waiting for some type of answer. TK cleared his throat to speak, but once again, Amber beat him to it. She looked at the rose in his hands and smiled.

"Oh my gosh, TK, is that for me?" she exclaimed happily, and unexpectedly taking it from his hands, "You are so sweet. You shouldn't have. I knew you didn't forget."

TK's failed to grasp tightly enough on that rose. That rose was for Kari. And Kari was staring. TK's eyes widened. Kari was staring! She was going to get the wrong idea! Looking past Amber, he stared back at the direction where Yolei and Kari was. Kari was still there, although this time, her face was in pain and he could see it. He saw her bite her quivering lip, and he then saw something slowly slide down her face. His heart broke. A tear? Noticing that TK was still staring at her, she just shook her head, turned around and ran away. TK, without hesitation, clumsily pushed past Amber and ran after his best friend.

He wasn't going to mess up and lose this chance. Not again.

**TBC**

**Okay, I hope none of you guys are disappointed. Since I did say this was going to be the last chapter, and you were probably expecting some type of big ending. But I realized there was more to the story, and I didn't want to make it seemed rushed. Regardless, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and that you're willing to continue. I really appreciate the time you take to read this. =) Hopefully I'll feel better soon! **

**Read and Review, please and thank you! xoxo **


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey all! Thank you so much for the reviews. And I'm super sorry for rather long delay. I've been sick lately. But here I am now, ready to type up this bad boy! I hope you all enjoy this chapter =)**

**I don't own Digimon, nor do I own Hello Kitty. (I mention Hello Kitty since she'll be used in the beginning of the chapter) **

**I Love You, BF!**

by iJutsu

**Chapter 4**

"Kari! Kari! Wait up!"

Kari didn't turn back. She couldn't face him now. She just kept running, and running, to get as far as she can from the sound of his voice. She pushed through the crowd, hopefully trying to get lost in them. But that didn't seem to work, for his voice seemed to get closer and closer. Where could she go? She couldn't go home-that was the most obvious place! She grunted. There was no way she can out run TK, him being a soccer, track and a basketball player. She was feeling a little bit light headed. She now regretted not taking a PE class this year. Kari shook her head out of her thoughts. She had to find a place to hide; her legs couldn't' take her any further. She desperately looked around. Luckily, just a few feet away, stood three tents. She glanced back quickly, and saw that there was a large crowd; but TK would show through them anytime soon. Without thinking, she ran into the left tent. She gasped for breath and rested her hands on her knees. As she continued to catch her breath, she looked around. It was a dressing room. No one was in there, fortunately enough. Realizing she was just wasting time standing there, she decided to start running again. TK had a 1/3 chance of choosing the right tent, that is, if I he made it through the crowd. But she wasn't taking any chances. Looking around, she saw that there only one outfit left. She twitched, staring at the piece of fabric.

"…Hello Kitty?"

The outfit she held was a blue overall dress, already connected with a red shirt underneath it. She looked down at the other part of the outfit and stared at it uncomfortably. It was Hello Kitty's head. The 'mascot' head, anyways. Kari shivered. It wouldn't really make a different if she just changed her outfit. TK would still recognize her. She took a deep breath and picked up the head. Having no other choice, and having no time to waste, she quickly changed into the outfit.

Minutes later, she stood in front of the mirror and almost gagged. She couldn't get over how pathetic she looked. _"How'd I get myself into this?" _Kari scolded to herself. She sighed and walked out of the other side of the tent. She immediately bumped into someone. She jerked back a little, and when she fully got her balance back, she stared at the person before her. It was a girl, wearing the same dress, with her Hello Kitty head in her arms and with a basket in the other. She blinked.

"Diane!" the girl said to Kari, "You're out of break early today! Getting into your shift already?"

Kari, not knowing how Diane would sound, stayed on the safe side and just nodded. Kari was now grateful for the head, otherwise Kari's nervousness would of shown right through. The girl seemed to have bought it. She smiled.

"Well, looks like you're all ready then," the girl said, handing her the basket of toys, smiling thankfully, "Good luck! So many little kids here today. Seem to can't get enough of these Hello Kitty bobble heads. Alright Diane, I'll be taking my break now, so don't need me!"

Kari just awkwardly waved at the girl who entered the tent. She then turned back around and slowly made her way back into the carnival crowd. Her heart was racing as she slowly continued walking. _"Okay, pull yourself together Kari. If someone just asks for a bobble head, just give it to them…Oh crap, how much do they cost? Okay, okay. Don't' panic. You can do this." _Kari then let out a loud, annoyed sigh, _"Oh for Pete's sake, I'm dressed in a Hello Kitty outfit, with my face trapped in a Hello Kitty head that smells like sweat, in the middle of a carnival selling bobble heads without even knowing the price just to run away from my best frie-" _Kari stopped in her tracks, and froze in awe. It took her a damn Hello Kitty outfit to realize what she was really doing. She was running away from her best friend. _"But…why?"_ Kari thought, _"And why was he chasing after me if he was supposed to be with Amb-" _Kari's thoughts were interrupted as little girl tugged on the bottom of her dress. Kari looked down at the child.

"Can I pwease have one, Hewwo Kitteh?" said the girl, awfully slowly.

Kari found a big smile creep onto her face. She always found little kids adorable. In fact, things like these fell under one of main weaknesses: cuteness. Kari, still smiling, dug into the basket and pulled out bobble head. She then remembered that she had no idea how much the darn things cost. She looked down at the little girl, who was holding a $5 bill (A/N: Sorry, I'd say it in yen, but I don't know it's conversions). _"It must be just $5," _assumed Kari, as the girl handed her the money. Kari took the money and she gladly handed the little girl the bobble head. The girl's face lit up happily, as did Kari's behind her 'mask'. But then the girl looked up at Kari, with a shy look. Kari stared at her funny, not quite understanding what the little girl was doing. _"Does she want her change?" _thought Kari, hoping that wasn't true. The little girl then blushed and fidgeted with her feet.

"Can I…take…peekture with chu?" the little girl asked, with a shy smile.

Peek…ture? Kari then got it. Picture! Kari nodded eagerly.

"Of course, sweetie!" Kari said, patting her on the head.

The little girl smiled and called out for her mom. As the mother approached, she pulled out her camera. Kari bent down and wrapped one arm around the girl. The little girl smiled happily. The mother, also smiling, counted down with her camera pointing towards them. Once the flash came on to take the picture, a loud scream came from a distance. Kari stood up straight and looked at where the voice was coming from. Her eyes widened. _"Oh God…"_

"OH MY GOSH! IT'S HELLO KITTY!"

It was Yolei. Running towards her like a mad man, with a goofy smile and with her arms up frantically waving. It seemed like the more closer Yolei got, the more terrifying it was for Kari. The mother and the child quickly made their way out of the scene as Yolei glomped on Kari, nearly knocking her down. Yolei hugged her super tight while jumping in glee. There's hugs, but then there's Yolei's hugs. Kari literally couldn't breathe as Yolei spun her side to side, arms still hugging her.

"YAY! I finally found you!" Yolei exclaimed happily, jumping up and down, "It took me forever!"

Yolei, to Kari's relief, finally let go and smiled hugely at her, "What are you selling this year?"

Kari was still a bit dazed, but managed to talk back, "B-bobble heads! Five dollars each."

Yolei's face then dropped rather quickly, giving Kari the most weirdest look ever. Kari now felt uneasy. Yolei looked at the basket, then back at Kari, then back at the basket, then finally back at Kari. Yolei placed her hands on her hips and scoffed loudly, drawing people's attention. Kari winced. Yolei _would_ be the one to do this in public.

"FIVE dollars? For a toy that's as big as my finger?" Yolei whined, "There haaas to be some other way we can negotiate this! I mean, really!"

Kari was now on the spot. She laughed awkwardly, which is a hated habit she has whenever she's nervous, "I-I'm sorry, miss but I just can't change the price like that! It just wouldn't be fair to the other customers!"

Yolei, again, shot her that strange, questionable, look, "You know…you sound an awful lot like my friend."

Now Kari started to panic, "Y-you don't say."

"Yup, yup!" Yolei said, "But she totally ditched me! I have no idea where she went. And she won't answer her phone! She just ran off! Hm. Maybe she ate one of those free sample cheeses they had near the free shirt stand we were at earlier. I've heard that the cheese was spoiled. And I know how sensitive Kari's stomach is! Kari's her name, by the way. Anyways, I was just standing there, right? And then like…"

Kari stared at Yolei embarrassingly, even thought Yolei couldn't see her. Once Yolei informed her that she wasn't picking up her calls, Kari gasped softly. She left her phone and her other clothes back in the tent! She had to get it back. But Yolei just kept talking and talking, which was making it harder for Kari to escape. Suddenly, a swarm of kids came running their way. Yolei blinked and turned around. In a matter of seconds, a bunch of little kids were pulling on Kari's dress, poking her side, and/or trying to take the basket. Yolei was trying to shake some off too. Kari was, oddly enough, getting scared.

"C-calm down, children!" Kari said, nervously, "Hello Kitty needs to go….!"

Kari attempted to take a step, but there were just too many kids. All of a sudden, a kid pushed another kid to get closer to Hello Kitty. The kid stumbled back against Kari, causing them both to fall. Kari grunted as her back hit the ground. She then felt a sudden cool breeze of air hit her cheeks. Kari blinked. Her red, wet face felt good against the cool air, and she could fully see everything in front of her. Her face filled with shock as she then realized that the Hello Kitty head must of gotten off. Which means, she was exposed. Which means, people were staring. Which means, so was Yolei! Kari quickly got up and stared at Yolei, who gave Kari an equal shocked look.

"…Kari?"

Before Kari was even able to open her mouth to explain herself, a voice came from behind her.

"There she is! The one who stole my costume!"

Kari turned around and saw a girl, with a police, pointing at her. Kari's eyes widened even more, and her heart was literally beating against her chest as the two ran towards her. She bowed apologetically to Yolei, and picked up her Hello Kitty head. As the two got closer, Kari stared at the head and then back at them.

"Here you go, Diane!" Kari said nervously, as she swiftly threw the head towards them.

The head hit them in the middle, causing them to fall back-giving Kari the perfect opportunity to run away. Without looking back, she ran deeper into the carnival until she could no longer hear those familiar voices. Once she felt she got far enough, she slowed down to catch her breath. She looked around and sighed in relief. She was in the food area. Kari found an empty picnic table and tiredly took her seat upon it. She placed her head down and beat herself up with her thoughts. She couldn't get Yolei's shocked expression out of her head. Not only did she worry TK, but she now worried Yolei too. It was heartbreaking. Nor could she get over the fact that she had no idea why she just did what she did. Running away from her best friend has done no justice to her. She felt harsh, frustrated tears force themselves out of her eyes. She kept her head down, allowing the tears to fall.

"What am I doing…"

**Meanwhile with TK,**

TK felt dizzy. It was as if he was going around in circles. He could of sworn he already been in the area, but there was no sight of Kari. He got mad at himself for losing sight of her once a wave of people literally crashed over him. Once the crowd cleared up, all he saw was three tents, but he doubted Kari went in there. She was too much of a goody-good to invade a tent. So he looked at the back end of each tent, but she wasn't there. He then figured she just ran around it, which made him end up where he was now-dizzy, lost, and unaccomplished. He leaned against the pole and took a deep breathe.

"If I was Kari trying to run away from me, where would I go…?"

TK dropped his head down in defeat. There was countless places Kari could of gone too. Kari has a huge mind, and she knows how to use it. He couldn't blame Amber fully on this one. If he would of acted more quickly, maybe Amber would of never shown up and he would of actually got the chance to talk to Kari. He sighed again. Thinking over what he could of done wasn't going to change anything. Stretching, he started walking around again, thinking hard at the places he may have not been to yet. While he walked, he noticed a purpled headed girl just standing idle in the middle of the walkways. TK didn't have to think twice about who that was. There was only one girl with that odd color hair in this city.

"Yolei!"

Yolei jumped a little from the sound of his voice. She turned around. He quickly made his way towards her. Her eyes were still a bit wide, like she was surprised about something. TK stared at her worriedly. He wasn't used to Yolei being down and un-hyper like this. It's so weird for her to _not _be spazzing out. He placed his hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"Yolei, what's up? Looks like you saw somebody get killed."

Yolei turned away and looked back at the direction where Kari once ran, "It _was_ Kari…"

"Kari?" TK immediately blurted, once he heard her name, "T-that's right! You were with Kari! Where did she go?"

"Hmph. As if I know!" Yolei crossed her arms and pouted, "She totally bailed on me, TWICE! I-I mean I didn't know she had a job here, but that's no reason to like, not tell me-"

TK stared at her oddly, "A job? What are you talking about?"

"See! _You_, of all people, didn't know either! Kari was dressed as Hello Kitty earlier, and she was selling those adorable Hello Kitty bobble-heads!"

"Wha-?" TK said, now looking at her stupidly, "Kari doesn't work. Especially not carnival duty! As HELLO KITTY? Are you sure it's Kari? And how'd you know it was her if those Hello Kitty girls are wearing a mascot head?"

"She fell and the head fell off," Yolei said simply, like it was common, "And it WAS her, TK. She looked at me straight in the eyes. She had such a sad look in her eyes."

Yolei then gave TK a soft glare, giving off a hint, and sarcastically said, "Hmm, I wonder why."

TK sighed. Of course Yolei would know about Kari's pain; better yet the pain that he causes her. And Yolei, being one of Kari's closest girl friends, would know about her crush on him. Yolei really didn't need to go past her sarcasm for him to realize it was all his fault. Then again, TK couldn't put all the blame on him, for Kari didn't open up to TK about any of this. How was he supposed to know? Him and Yolei walked over to a nearby bench and sat down. Yolei examined TK's face as he sat there, depressed. Yolei chuckled softly, already know what's up. She could immediately tell that his mind was filled with Kari. You cannot hide anything from this girl. Yolei nudged TK playfully.

"Come on, TK, cheer up!" she said, patting his back, "I mean, if anything, this is both your guys' fault."

TK looked at her funny, not even caring anymore how she even knows what's on his mind, "Both of our faults? How?"

"Are you guys that blind?" Yolei almost laughed, "Seriously! Everyone in the whole school knows that Kari's hopelessly in love with you. And everyone obviously knows you like her back, since you were the one to actually grow some balls and ask her out. So, if you ask me, it's Kari's fault for being too scared to admit it, and it's you're fault for giving up. And don't you dare say that I'm wrong, because then you're just fooling yourself."

TK was not getting where Yolei was coming from. However, he did catch that she said that _everyone_ knows that Kari loves him. He looked at her seriously, noticing how confident she is in her remarks.

"Giving up?" he asked, rather insulted, "What are you talking about?"

"You gave up on Kari, even though you still have feelings for her," she said simply, "Well, that what it seems like, anyways."

"W-what? I never gave up on Kari!" he exclaimed, really confused. Because as far as he knows, he's still madly in love with Kari. Yolei gave him a really dumb and annoyed look.

"TK. Really?" she said, trying to fit off her urge for sarcasm, "Even after you asked her out, you still went out with plenty other girls! And I mean plenty! Hell, I even lost track about how many girls you got with after Kari rejected you! Can you even comprehend how much PAIN Kari felt because of that? Come on, TK. Do you understand now?"

TK gave Yolei yet another confused look, which seemed to now get her really annoyed.

"OPEN YOUR EYES! Kari. She's your best friend. Who loves you. Yet she helps you get the girl so that you'll be happy. If I were her, I'd be pretty damn hurt! T-that's why I said you gave up on Kari. You gave up trying to make Kari yours! You gave up on getting the one thing that would make you BOTH happy! YOU. GAVE. UP. Get the picture NOW? Doesn't it all seem like a mess? "

Yolei's temper was rising, which was a bad sign. It was common, but it was still bad. And it showed. Yolei was heavily breathing, and she didn't even realize that her hands were gripped onto TK's arms to shake some sense into him. TK just stared at her appalled, trying to take in all that she was telling him. A sudden shot of guilt shot him right through his heart. He doesn't even know why he got with all those girls after Kari. At first he thought it was to fill this empty gap he had because Kari rejected him, and now he's starting to believe that's true. But as for Kari getting hurt, TK's thoughts persuaded him that it wasn't his fault because he didn't know anything about how she felt. He used that against Yolei.

"H-how was I supposed to know that she's hurt?" he said seriously, "I mean, Kari never told me anything about how she felt! If I was able to admit, then why can't she? You know? And I find that pretty messed up, since we've been best friends for so many years now and she can't even tell me…ow!"

Yolei slapped him. TK placed a hand on his cheek where she slapped and looked at her shocked. Although, Yolei's expression didn't seem so mad as it did before. She sighed and gave TK a disappointed look. Receiving that sort of look made him actually miss her angry side. It was sort of painful.

"You were getting mad," Yolei said softly, "Slapping you was my first instinct to make you stop, so I did. But I only stopped you because you were blaming Kari for this. It's not entirely her fault…"

"I just don't understand why she would hide all this in, and hurt herself like this," TK said sadly, "Because of me. Why she couldn't just simply tell me…"

"It's not that easy, TK!" Yolei exclaimed, "I mean, you can't expect Kari to just 'simply' go to you and pour out her feelings. It's not that easy. Even if you did already admitted it, it would still be hard for her to say anything because she'd figure you're already hurt because of her. You see, she's not scared of telling you how she feels. She's scared of how you'd react. Admitting love is reallly hard to do, especially if you both are best friends."

"Best friends," TK repeated in a whisper, but then his voice got a bit louder, "The lame reason why Kari is scared to give us a try…"

Yolei gasped and looked at him. He was confused for a second, but then he caught himself stuck in a crucial situation. He didn't realize that he was thinking out loud. He just used information he remembered from Kari's diary. And if it was in Kari's diary, TK wouldn't know about it. Yolei let out a huff and gave him a really suspicious look.

"How do you know that?" Yolei asked, "Did she tell you?"

TK figured there was no use in lying. He can't say that it was just a feeling, because he just admitted that he didn't understand Kari's feelings, and obviously Yolei would catch that. And he can't say Kari told him, because that was a really obvious lie. And the longer he stayed quiet, the more Yolei would catch onto him. He took a deep breath. No point in hiding it now.

"I read her diary."

Suddenly, it was just quiet between them too. Awkwardly, and brutally quiet. Yolei's eyes were stabbing straight into his, giving him a dark look. Without losing eye contact, she stood up and looked down at him horrifying. It was as if there was a dark aura surrounding her. Tk gulped.

"DO YOU WANT TO DIE?" Yolei slowly said, deadly, "Don't you EVER touch a girl's diary!"

"It was an accident, trust me. I know that sounds unbelievable and stupid, but it's true. It just happened."

"Are you trying to commit suicide or something? How'd you _accidentally _read it? Ugh! You know what? No. NO!"

Yolei turned around and clutched her head with both her hands, as if her head was going to explode. She was really frustrated. TK stood up to see what's wrong with her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and her body tensed. She was calming down. Letting out a huge, long sigh, she turned around again and faced TK. Placed both hands on his shoulders, gripped it and stared deep into his eyes. This was a bit too uncomfortable for TK.

"Go find her. Now. She went towards the food courts. Tell her you have her diary and tell her you read it. Tell the truth. Don't try to hold anything back. This is finally your chance to fix things. As friends, or as lovers. Go. NOW!"

TK found a small smile come to his face. "…Thanks, Yolei."

"I said NOW!"

With just that, TK nodded, shook Yolei off, and made his way.

"Hey," she called, making him look back, "If you think I was hard on you, don't worry. I already lectured Kari."

TK just chuckled, nodded and ran towards the direction she instructed him to go. He ran as fast as his legs could take him. Talking with Yolei was very useful, but it took up a lot of time he could of used to look for Kari. Hopefully she didn't go to far from her last encounter with Yolei. He picked up his pace towards the food court. Once he finally approached the area, he slowed down and looked around. Every picnic table was taken, and not to mention the place itself was crowded. He sighed and continued walking. To his surprise, he found just one empty picnic table. He slowly went over to it and sat. TK looked around at the people around him, hoping to spot his best friend, supposedly now in a Hello Kitty outfit. Sadly, he put his head down and thought hard.

"Where can she be…?"

_**With Kari…**_

Kari finally managed to leave the carnival without getting caught by TK, Yolei or any of the other Hello Kitty workers. She looked behind her at the carnival. She sighed. _"So much for getting things off my mind," _Kari thought disappointingly. She reached into her pocket to get out her phone, but then groaned when she remembered she left it in the tent with her clothes. Hopefully somebody would be polite enough to turn that into lost and found-if there was any people like that. She gave up on that thought. If anything, the cell phone should be the least of her worries.

Kari found herself walking on the pier now, since the carnival was located near the beach. It was rather empty, since most of the people were spending their times on rides and fried goods over at the carnival. Kari found it relaxing, though. It was finally nice to get some fresh air and silence. It was peaceful. Kari let out a breath of relief and slowly took her time as she walked through the pier, taking in the sights. It was now a little after sunset. The sunlight hit the water beautifully. Before she could really appreciate it all, she saw a boy from a distance, with awfully tall hair. Kari squinted. It was Tai! With Sora. Kari's face then softened. She remembered he was taking her out on a special date tonight. Smooth of him to choose to pier, where it's nice, quiet and romantic. She then heard Tai's voice in her head of what he told her this morning:

"_I fell in love with my best friend."_

Kari smiled, and turned around. She wouldn't want to ruin it. How truly beautiful Tai's relationship with Sora was. Kari couldn't help but feel jealous because that's how her life would be with TK now, if she would of given him the chance. She took the stares down that lead to the beach. Luckily there was no one there. Just Kari and the sound of the gentle waves crashing on shore. She found a pretty decent spot before sitting down on the sand, just a couple feet away from the water. The wind blew gently across her face, and the smell of sea salt water filled the air. In all honesty, Kari believed, this was the most relaxed she felt all week. So much happened in just 3 days. Memories of everything that happened flowed back into her mind. Amber. TK. The kiss. She even remembered what TK last said to her:

"_I am really lucky to have you, Kari. I really am."_

Kari sighed. _"What did he mean by that? Is he lucky to have me as the girl he loves, or…" _Kari's face then dropped, _"Is he lucky to have me as his best friend?" _She felt guilty for feeling sad whenever the fact of her being his best friend came to mind. She was lucky enough to even _know_ TK, what more being his best friend. She should be grateful. Although, the heart wants what it wants, and there's no stopping that.

The breeze got a bit colder, causing Kari to shiver a bit. She pulled her knees closer to her body and embraced them. The darn Hello Kitty dress hardly gave her any warmth, since her legs and arms were exposed. Good thing the sight was beautiful, otherwise Kari would have been really annoyed. With her arms still wrapped around her knees she looked into the horizon. It was getting a bit darker since she left the pier, and pretty soon the orange in the sky will vanish into dark blue. The wind got a bit cooler as minutes past. She embraced herself more tightly, now shivering a bit more. Enjoying the last minute of the sunset, she felt something, something soft, wrap around her body from behind. Her eyes widened, but she didn't look back. A person then sat beside her. Kari still didn't look. She already knew who it was, and now she was stuck with no where to go. She could feel her heart beat hard against her chest loudly. Now she couldn't even tell if she was shivering because she was cold, or if she was just nervous. Unfortunately to Kari, the silence was broken.

"What a day, huh?" said the boy.

"Heh, tell me about it," Kari said, calming down from the sound of his voice, yet still looking towards the ocean.

"Did you have fun in the carnival?" he asked a bit sheepishly.

"If you call invading a tent, stealing a costume, being dressed as Hello Kitty in a crowded carnival, getting trampled on my hundreds of little kids, AND being chased by security _fun_, then yes. I had a blast," Kari said sarcastically, "How about you?"

He stayed quiet for a while, which worried her a bit. But her eyes stayed fixed away from him. Suddenly, she felt a warm finger go under her chin, and it slowly and gently moved her face towards his. Kari blushed, and eyed the other way. She was too nervous to look into his eyes, even though she felt his eyes looking hard at her. His fingers were warm, which caused her to shiver. His hand then smoothed over to her cheek. Kari, finally, slowly turn her eyes back at him. Her heart fluttered. There she was again-staring face to face with her best friend.

"I was so worried about you," TK whispered kindly, "I was looking for you everywhere."

She opened her mouth to talk, but her throat felt dry. No words were able to get out. She ended up looking deeper into his eyes, causing more of her emotions to overwhelm her. _Look at him _said Kari's mind _Look at your best friend. Look at the boy who takes care of you. Look at the boy who worries sick about you. Look at the boy who protects you. Look at the boy, Kari, that loves you. Look at him. _A single tear slid down her face without her even realizing it. Guilt was now seriously getting to her. She hated how sensitive and weak she was. Every feeling she had started pouring out. TK noticed her tears and quickly wiped them away. He looked at her worriedly.

"Kari, what's wr-"

"I-I'm so sorry," Kari choked, turning her head away from him and covering her face with both hands, "I'm sorry for running away a-and making g-go through so much trouble all the time…"

"Kari, it's okay! Now I know you're safe and-"

"I'm sorry for a-always hurting you," Kari interrupted, face still covered, "I'm sorry for being a b-bad best friend. I'm sorry for n-not being good enough to-"

"Whoa, Kari, calm down, calm down. W-what are you talking ab-"

"I'm sorry for being so distant!"

"Kari…"

"I'm sorry for kissing you the other day!"

Kari…!"

"I'm sorry for breaking your heart!"

"KARI!"

Kari stumbled back a bit as TK grabbed a hold of arms and shook her sharply to calm her down. Kari's wet eyes looked fearfully at TK as he gripped onto her, looking into her eyes with such a look that Kari couldn't understand. He didn't look happy, which pained her, but he didn't look sad either. He looked like he desired something. TK, without thinking, pulled her close to him into an embrace. She fell between his legs as he pulled her into his embrace, not being able to even blink. Kari's eyes grew huge as her face turned red hot. TK held her closely and took in the aroma of sea salt from her hair. He took a deep breath before speaking.

"Kari, what's been going on with you lately?" TK said with surprise and worry, rubbing her back for comfort, "You've been acting so strange since after school that one day…"

Kari sniffled, feeling a bit light headed as she rest her head on his chest, eyes once again towards the ocean, "I don't want to lose you…"

TK raised his brow, "Lose me? Kari, I'm not going anywhere…"

"N-no, I…" Kari sighed and decided to all out on this one, "I'm just j-jealous. Of Amber. Not just Amber, but all those other girls. Whenever I see you happy with other girls, I just can't help but get jealous because it's like…like they're taking you away from me…And I'm not trying to say that I own you or anything it's just that…I don't know…"

Kari's head was already rumbled enough, so it was hard for her to find the right words to say without TK getting too confused. Although, TK seemed to pick up what she was trying to get through to him. Kari held onto him closer. TK rested his chin on Kari's head softly.

"Kari, no matter who I date, they'll never, ever replace you. You mean so much to me. You're my best friend."

Best friend. There was those words again. Those damn words. Amazing how two simple words could drive her crazy. Jealously, anger, guilt, fear-all these negative emotions overwhelmed her. She started to feel physically sick. Her head was literally spinning, and the ocean started to become a blur. Kari couldn't take it anymore.

"Yeah, but unlike them, I'm not the one you're dating!"

Kari's eyes slightly widen as she realized what she really said. She felt TK's hand stop stroking her back. TK just stared blankly at the view before him, confused. He didn't understood what she said. He was picking up hints in his head, but he still didn't fully understand. At this point, Kari felt ready. Enough with the chickening out. These were one of those chances that Yolei was talking about. Now that she had him thinking, she was finally going to make her move. Although, the moment she moved her head just an inch off his chest, it was as if a brick hit her straight at her head. Her vision got more blurry and it was as if things were moving slowly on it's own. She didn't understand why she started feeling so dizzy, but she was and it was interfering with her chance to confess herself. _"N-no, not now…"_ Kari thought to herself weakly. Gathering as much strength as she could, she shakily pulled herself back where her face was leveled with TK's. TK stared at her in shock, seeing how red her face became. Her body heat seemed to increase as well. Before he can speak, Kari beat him to it. She looked hazily into his eyes.

"TK…I…"

She now saw three of his faces shifting slowly left and right. She only had a little bit of time before she unintentionally knocks out. Kari took a deep breath. She managed to give TK one last small, sweet smile before finally saying what she's been wanting to say after so long:

"….I…love…you…."

**TBC**

**Again, I'm super sorry for the long delay. But I'm feeling way better, so I ensure you a quick update. **

**Please Read / Review! Thanks again you guys for the support! =) Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Until next time! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Yes, yes. I know. It's been quite a long delay. Four months, to be more specific. I apologize for that. I hope I still have readers who are still interested in the story, because I know I'm interested in finishing it. Things just been so hectic here at home (personal things). But I'm getting myself back together, so thank you for the support! I'll try to add a pinch of humor into this to steady out the drama. I hope you enjoy this chapter. **

**I Love You, BF!**

By iJutsu

**Chapter 5**

"Oww, my heeaad…"

Kari shakily sat up and opened her eyes. As the blurry vision sharpened back to normal, she looked around. She was in a room—a rather bright, yellow room. Kari blinked in confusion as she continued to browse around the room. Seconds passed, and the room started to become more recognizable to her. Shifting herself into a more comfortable position, she spotted a purple haired girl face down on the bed she was sitting upon. _"Yolei? What am I doing in Yolei's room…?"_ Kari thought, confusingly. She softly shook Yolei's head to awaken her. And to her surprise, she was instantly awakened. Yolei quickly sat up and stared wide-eyed at the brunette before her. Before Kari was able to even open her mouth to speak, Yolei leaped towards her and tightly wrapped her arms around her.

"Kari! You're okay!" she yelped in glee, "It's about time you wake up!"

"I…I was asleep?" Kari asked in a raspy voice, rubbing her head in slight pain, "Ugh, my head hurts."

"Yup! It's almost 3 AM!" Yolei exclaimed as she let go, "Well, it's understandable that your head hurts. Apparently you just knocked out while you were at the beach! By the way, thanks for ditching me at the fair! Anyways! You've been knocked out since TK brought you over! It was the cutest thing. He carried you with such a serious, concerned face and..."

Kari's eyes widened in puzzlement, suddenly remembering her best friend as if it's been years she last heard his name, "TK?"

Kari couldn't remember a thing. The beach? Knocking out? It was all a blur to her. She groaned and leaned her back against the bed frame. Kari tightly closed her eyes, hoping it will help her remember what happened before she ended up in Yolei's room. Letting out a sigh in defeat, she opened her eyes and looked towards Yolei desperately.

"What happened?" Kari asked, almost pleadingly.

"I don't know for sure," Yolei said, tapping her chin, "Last time I saw you were when you ran away from the security. And the last time I saw TK was when I told him to run after you after YOU ran away. You were dressed as Hello Kitty, remember? What the hell was that, Kari? I mean, seriously. You have explaining to do. And I mean, a LOT of explaining to do."

Yolei's rapid speech was making her even more confused. She thought harder back to the time of the carnival. She remembered running away from TK when he was about to hand the rose to Amber (or so it seemed). Remembering that, she started to recall the moments in the tent, where she stole the Hello Kitty costume to stay hidden from TK. Things started to become clearer to her. She then remembered running away from the cops after she was revealed for stealing the costume, and then somehow ending up at the beach. Kari felt a strange feeling in the bottom of her stomach. _"The beach," _she thought, a bit solemnly, _"I was at the beach…"_

"With TK…" Kari whispered, finishing her thoughts out load.

"Pardon?" Yolei asked.

Kari's eyes then shot open, and she turned to her purple headed friend in shock, "I was at the beach with TK! W-Where is…when did he…w-what just…!"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down! You were at the beach with TK? When? After you ran away?"

"Yes," Kari stated, still thinking hard, "I remember talking to him about my day. Then, I apologized for avoiding him ever since the kiss. Then…" Kari's face started to redden harshly, "Oh my God."

Kari's face turned even redder from, what Yolei assumed was, embarrassment. Slowly, her face was panic stricken. She groaned loudly and grabbed the pillow and slammed it on top of her face. Yolei, impatient for her to continue what she was going to say, tried to grab the pillow away from Kari's face but Kari wouldn't let go.

"Kari! What the hell!" Yolei grunted, trying to snatch away the pillow, "Tell me what happened next! Why are you acting like that! Did he kiss you again?"

"No, no, no!" Kari whined, refusing to give up the tug-of-war, "Yolei, oh my God, what did I just do? My life is ruined! I messed up everythiiiing!"

"Well I wouldn't know until you tell me!" she almost yelled, as she sharply snatched away the pillow and finally releasing it from Kari's grip. She then hit Kari with the pillow repeatedly, "Now tell me!"

Kari was more embarrassed than regretful with what she told TK. And it showed. Kari, still laying down looking like a steamed tomato, fixed her eyes onto the ceiling. She was trying to find a way to tell Yolei without being more pathetic that she already was. She let out a shaky breath as she remembered the moment. She had finally confessed her love to her best friend after so many years, but yet, she feels embarrassed. Shameful, even. _"He probably thinks I'm crazy," _Kari thought, sadly, _"Probably thinks I'm a fool…"_

"How am I going to face him?" Kari whispered, again finishing her thoughts aloud. This irked Yolei.

"I swear to all things good and evil, Kari!" she yelled, now grabbing her arm and yanking her back and forth, "If you don't tell me now, I am going to cut your throat and…!"

"I told him I love him, okay?" Kari yelled back, face as red as ever, "I told TK that I love him and...and now everything is ruined…and…!"

"Yippee! OH MAH GAH, FINALLY! No way!" Yolei yelped, now pulling her into yet another tight embrace, "It's about freaking time! Okay. Okay. I'll calm down. But tell me every single detail! Every. Single. Detail!"

Kari let out a semi-annoyed sigh and hugged her knees while tracing the flower prints on Yolei's bed. Even thinking about the slightest detail of the event was making her shiver. Somehow she went from the carnival, to the beach, to the confession, and now to the wrath of her purple haired friend. Kari then squinted in thought, just now realizing that she does not yet know the real story of how she got here. She decided to use that as an advantage to avoid telling her the story. Besides, in fairness, Kari did have the right to know what happened to her.

"Wait," Kari said sharply, seeing her friend's face drop, "You tell _me_ every single detail of how I got here! You tell me now, or I won't tell you the story. And that's that!"

"Ugh, Kari, you're so childish!" Yolei grunted, plopping herself on the bed next to her, "Okay, okay. Listen carefully, because I'm only going to say this once."

She took a deep breath before speaking again, "I went looking for you after you ran away. But I didn't find you anywhere, so I just went home. Because like, I didn't want to be at the carnival alone! Anyways! I was home for a few hours until TK just randomly showed up at the doorstep with YOU in his arms! You! Like a beautiful princess! Except, well, you were passed out with drool sliding down your mouth. Okay, then I was all like 'what the heck, TK!' and he's all polite and says 'I'm oh so sorry for coming in so suddenly, Yolei, but my dear Kari is sick and needs a place to rest and her home is locked.' And then I was all like 'what happened to her?' And then he was like 'I'll tell you next time. I got to go blah blah blah Please take care of her yada yada yada. And then he placed you on my bed and left. Aaand that's how you got here. Now YOU spill!"

Kari's facial expression was crossed between stunned and flattered. Of course she knew parts of Yolei's story were a bit exaggerated, but it was nonetheless flattering. She remembered nothing after confessing her love to him. Unfortunate memories of her running away from him and encountering him at the beach were the only things that got to her. Her blushed deepened as she took in the story. _"He must have gone through so much trouble," _Kari thought in guilt, _"Having to carry me all the way here. Ugh, Kari, what's the matter with you?" _She admitted that she understood why she fainted. Whenever there's way too much in her head, her mind seems to always win over her consciousness. She sensed Yolei's impatience, for her brows were twitching. She sighed; now it was her turn to tell her side of the story. Pushing her hair behind her ear and avoiding straight eye contact, she stared sadly towards Yolei.

"You told me that everything that happened between TK and I was a sign, and that it was about time I told him how I feel," Kari started slowly, "But now that I did, why do I feel so…so…"

"Pathetic? Sad? Nervous? As if the weight is still on your shoulders?" Yolei said simply, staring at her nails before flashing her caring smile, "Kari, it's normal to feel that way! Especially in your situation. I mean, TK didn't even give you an answer. Since you passed out and all. So it's like…kind of expected that you don't feel happy yet since you don't know TK's reaction. Whether it was shocked or happy—which I bet it would have been if _somebody_ didn't faint!"

Kari sighed, again being defeated by Yolei. Yolei let out a sigh to imitate her.

"Kari, come on, why are you so down? You already know that TK is still in love with you. Head over heels in love with you! So why are you worried?"

"You don't know tha…!"

"UGH! Do not even start with that again, Kari. I really do not feel like repeating what I've been telling you for years! TK loves you. He doesn't like any of those girls he dated. He only dated them to try to move on from you because you rejected him. But now that you told him you loved him, everything is A-OK! All you need to do now is confront him about it!"

Kari grabbed the pillow and pushed it against her face in frustration.

"How am I going to face him now?" Kari muffled, "This is so embarrassing…"

"Tsk, tsk Kari. What would you do without me, I swear," Yolei said with a grin as she stood up to stretch, "Lucky for you, Mama Yolei has a perfect idea! Because, well, knowing you, you're just going to end up staying home and waiting for him to talk to you. So, listen closely…"

Kari immediately sat up in fear when she heard the word 'idea' escape from Yolei's lips, "What idea? No more ideas! No, no, no! Yolei, you better not have done anything!"

"Calm down, Kari," Yolei said with a pout, "You can just sit back and relax. I got everything all under control already. It's all done and over with, so your whining and complaining isn't going to do anything anymore! And nope, I'm NOT going to tell you!"

Kari's eyes widened in even more fear. "What did you do?"

Yolei just winked and started walking out of her room, "C'mon, get some more rest! A big day awaits you tomorrow. Good night, Kari! I looooove you!"

With that, she just closed the door and left the room. Kari yelled out her name to come back several times, but then gave up. She wasn't going to come back, and she most definitely wasn't going to open her bedroom door. Kari slowly laid back down and stared blankly. Now her mind was more messed up than ever. Butterflies arose and fluttered wildly in her stomach, thinking about TK and how he may react when he sees her again. She embraced herself, almost taking in TK's scent that rubbed off on her when she laid in his arms. A smile crept onto her face once she remembered his smile, his gentle touch, his goofy laugh, and the sweet look he gives her every time they see each other. The fluttering became worse as she thought about what could possibly be Yolei's idea to reunite her and TK. Her blank stare soon became a glare. Huffing out in frustration, she figured sleeping it off would be best. She grabbed her pillow, pushed it against her face, and before she knew it, fell asleep.

**The **_**next morning in the Takaishi residence,**_

"Seems like Sleepy Beauty forgot to sleep."

TK lifted his head up from the dining table and looked dully up at his elder brother, who was snickering down at him while holding a pan of eggs in his hands. TK glared, and sluggishly rested his head on his hand that tried to stay steady on the table. He let out a lazy huff as Matt slid some eggs onto TK's plate.

"Not funny," TK almost yawned, "I couldn't sleep at all last night."

"I'd ask why, but I bet I already know," Matt laughed as he sat down in front of his brother, "Guessing it starts with a K and ends with an A-R-I?"

TK looked down and started poking the eggs sadly, "Yeah, man. I'm really worried about her. I wasn't able to contact her last night after I dropped her off at Yolei's. Well, she probably was sleeping to recover from passing out and…"

"Whoa, Kari passed out?" Matt spat out in shock, "How?"

"Long story," TK sighed, feeling the guilt seeping back into him, "She has a fragile metabolism, but I'm sure she'll be fine. But I feel at fault for this, Matt. Everything was my fault. I should have never dated other girls after I asked her out. I should have never given up on her. I should have…ugh. I don't even know anymore."

Matt swallowed his food before speaking, "I'll agree with you on that one, no offense. But trust me, I know what you mean. I've experienced a similar situation. So I don't blame you for thinking it's your fault. I'm just surprised it's taking this long."

TK looked up at his brother questionably, "What do you mean?"

"You fell in love with Kari ever since you both we're like, what, seven? If anything, I thought you two would have ended up together by middle school. Especially since you guys are best friends, I thought it would be much easier for you both to get together."

"It's actually not that easy, Matt," TK groaned, pushing his plate aside and standing up sluggishly, "Being her best friend is actually the problem! We already built up so much! There's just so much to risk!"

"Then risk it."

TK stared dully at Matt's blunt response, "Pardon?"

"Risk it," Matt said, cutting up his eggs into smaller pieces, "If Kari's really worth the risk, then do it. Risk it all for her. What's the worst that can happen? There's no way she would stop being your best friend, TK. So risk it. The worst she can do is laugh in your face."

TK looked at Matt in deep thought, and sighed hopelessly before speaking, "I did it before, and she rejected me."

Matt placed his fork down in slight annoyance before standing up to pat his little brother on his shoulder, "Listen, bro. Seriously. Stop being in denial. You already know that girl is in love with you. You love her, she loves you. You're not scared of asking her out again, you're scared of her reaction. So, man up, get cleaned up, and ask her out! I mean, didn't you read her diary? You should know."

"You're right," TK sighed, but suddenly his eyes shot open in shock and embarrassment, "W-wait! How do you know about Kari's diary?"

"Dude, I saw it on the floor. You have the curiosity of cat; of course you read it."

TK ruffled his already-messy hair and let out a frustrated huff. He totally forgot about the diary. He even forgot that he actually read the thing and he has to return it. Knowing TK, he wouldn't try to be slick and try to sneak it back into Kari's room. The guilt would kill him and he'd eventually end up telling her anyways, so he figured he'd save himself the trouble and just straight out confess. But how to do it was what was killing him. He excused himself and walked back into his room to think. Everything Matt told him was right. He was scared of her reaction. In fact, he was terrified to be rejected again. Scratch that, he was scared to hurt her and once again place her in the pain that was expressed in the diary. TK leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, as if it was going to help relax him. The relaxation soon came to an end when his phone received a text message and started beeping. Lazily, TK made his way to his desk and grabbed is phone. He nearly dropped it once he read the message:

WHERE R U? KARI LEFT ALREADY! UR 5 MINS LATE! :[ - Yolei

"Crap, I'm late!" TK said as he grabbed his jacket and ran out of his room.

Not wanting to face Yolei's wrath, he quickly left his apartment and made his way to Yolei's place. Matt looked out the window and saw him running and almost spat out his eggs in laughter. He let out a chuckle and shook his head, _"Good luck, little bro." _ Within what seemed like two seconds, he finally made it to Yolei's residence, only to see her already standing outside waiting. He approached her and leaned against the brick wall to catch his breath. Yolei heard him, and turned around. Although, the moment she did, her body seemed to have froze and her face suddenly turned red. TK, still panting, stared at her confusingly. Yolei pressed her lips hard together, as if trying to prevent a smile. Yolei couldn't hold it anymore—instantly, she suddenly burst into laughter. TK just blinked and stared oddly at the jittering purple-head. Yolei then started gasping for breath, as if her laughter was killing her. TK leaned off the wall and tried to touch her, but she took a step back whenever he did and STILL continued to crack up. TK twitched.

"What's wrong with you?" TK asked stupidly.

Yolei, covering her mouth as if it was going to help prevent her annoying laughter, just pointed at him below his stomach. Raising a brow in confusion, he looked down and then almost gagged in embarrassment.

He was wearing only is boxers.

His heart-covered boxers.

His face's color soon matched Yolei's as he rapidly removed his jacket and wrapped it around his waist. He glared at Yolei and gave a sharp look towards her door, motioning to her to let him in. Yolei just continued to laugh. She quickly opened the door to her home so he can enter. Yolei closed the door behind her, went to dad's room to grab some gym shorts, came back, and finally found the energy to speak.

"Why?" Yolei snickered out, 'why' being the only word she can let out.

"Y-you rushed me over here!" TK scoffed, quickly pulling up the gym shorts.

"Muahaha, that's right, listen to your master," Yolei said evilly, "But really, TK. It only takes you 5 seconds to put on pants. Anyways! Stay here! I'll be right back. I got to get the props."

"_..Props?"_ TK thought in slight panic. Knowing Yolei, she would probably go all out in the crazy meter. He heard her footsteps approach him from behind. He turned around, and twitched. She _did_ go all out. Way too out. In her arms was a bear outfit—the exact outfit that Kari wore to help him ask out a girl back during sophomore year. He stared at the outfit, and then back at Yolei with a bewildered expression. Yolei just smirked, holding it out to him. TK stared hard at the outfit again, and then suddenly his eyes turned wide. He took a step in denial, and held his hands in front of him as defense.

"Oh no…"

Yolei's smirk grew.

"Oh YES."

**TBC**

**I know it was a quite a boring chapter after months of delay, but I don't want the story to be rushed. I will try to do quicker updates (depending on the R&R's I get to keep me hyped up to write it). As for new readers to this story, I really hope you enjoyed it. Thank you everyone for the support, and stay tuned for the next chapter! Much love **** !**

**R&R! **


	6. Chapter 6

**REAL Belated season greetings! I'm really sorry about the late updates. Now that school is back in session, it'll be much harder to update, but I assure you all I will do my best. Thank you for the support! I hope you enjoy this chapter. **

**I Love You, BF!**

By iJutsu

**Chapter 6 **

Kari sat lifelessly on the bench in front of the playground of Odaiba Park, dully watching the young ones play carelessly with their surroundings. She envied how they all seemed so carefree. They didn't have to worry about being in love with their best friend and then catching them with another girl and then accidentally confessing their love to them by passing out. Kari twitched at the bad memory. She still had no clue how to approach him. Yolei said she had everything under control, but knowing Yolei, it was going to be something that she couldn't handle. She let out a heavy sigh and stood up. It seemed more effective to walk around to clear her mind instead of being a sitting duck and letting her thoughts beat her up. After a few minutes, however, walking seemed to do no justice. Her mind was forever planted on the idea of her best friend not accepting her as a girlfriend. _"Just because I rejected him,_" Kari thought, _"Doesn't mean he'll reject me…right?"_ Kari then ruffled her hair in frustration. _"I don't even know for sure if he heard me!" _Letting out another huff, her stomach suddenly rumbled. She covered her stomach and pouted, remembering that she hasn't eaten at all yet. Before she was able to think of options of what to eat, her phone rang. Kari dug her phone out of her pocket, and almost dropped her phone at the sight of the caller ID.

It was TK! She just kept staring at her phone as if it was a life-threatening decision to pick up or not (even though in a way, it sort of is). She had merely seconds to either answer or ignore the call. Her head was literally spinning, which bothered her because before, she never even had to put a second thought into talking to TK. He's her best friend, why was she so scared? She glared at herself for even asking herself that. Taking a deep breath and saying a little prayer in her head, she pushed the button.

"Hello?" Kari answered shyly but almost stupidly.

"Hello Miss Sunshine! How are you feeling?"

Kari felt a sense of relief flow through her. Of course he would try to make her smile. No matter what happens, they were still best friends. A small smile crept onto her face. She almost felt guilty for being afraid to pick up. He was so kind. He was so perfect.

"I'm feeling better, thank you. How about you?"

"I've been good, if you minus the whole 'worrying about you part'," TK said with a short laugh, "Are you sure you're okay? Did you get enough rest? And have you eaten? You're so light and thin it's scary."

"Yes, dad, I'm fine!" Kari assured, but then blushed when she remembered him carrying her to Yolei's house, "I'm really, really sorry about that. I…I didn't know what happened. I guess I just wasn't feeling really well. It was cold and I've been running and…"

"It's okay! Don't worry. As long as you're feeling better. I was just worried since I wasn't able to get a hold of you. Do you need anything, by the way?"

Kari's stomach rumbled at the sound of the question. But she didn't want to bother him with something as small as hunger, "No, I'm alri…"

"You're hungry, aren't you?" TK said with a grin.

Kari's eyes widened in astonishment, and blushed at the thought that TK may have heard her stomach growl through the phone, "H-how did you know?"

TK laughed, "Ouch Kari, you're talking to the guy you've known since diapers. I know that on Sunday mornings we have food from the park's café."

Kari blinked, and froze in total amazement. She totally forgot that it was Sunday. It just became a tradition for them to eat at the Odaiba Park Café for breakfast every Sunday. Before she could open her mouth to speak, his laughter beat her to it.

"Oh, and you've been holding onto your stomach for the past 5 minutes."

Even more confused on how he knows what she's doing, she frantically looked around her with her phone still glued to her ear. There was no sight of TK anywhere! Until she looked behind her and saw Odaiba Park Café just a couple feet away. She didn't even realize how far she's gotten until now. She looked closer at the café and saw a blond heading kid sitting on the outside seats with a goofy smile, waving his hand highly in the air with his other hand holding the phone to his ear. Kari unintentionally let out a short laugh of surprise. She cancelled the call and made her way towards him. Suddenly, the whole nervousness she was experience earlier by just thinking of him disappeared and was replaced with the feelings of excitement. She was excited to have her usual Sunday breakfast with her best friend. It was as if all her troubles floated by as she walked towards him. It must be a best friend thing, where seeing each other is all you need to feel better. Once Kari finally approached him, TK immediately stood up and gave her a welcoming hug.

"Good morning," he smiled, as he released her, "I've already ordered for us."

"Morning," she said back slowly, as she sat down and looked at the food. In front of her was hot cocoa with marshmallows, and a strawberry filled crepe drizzled with chocolate syrup. He knows about her sweet tooth, and he knows it well. Kari then glanced over at TK's plate, which was empty. She looked up at him confusingly, "Where's your food?"

TK blushed and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Eh, I sort of ate it already. I got hungry while waiting for you."

Kari frowned and started to feel guilty, "How long have you been waiting?"

"About an hour…? Yeah, about an hour," TK replied laughing, "I went over to your house to pick you up but you weren't there, so I figured you were on your way here already. But when I saw you weren't here, I just ordered some of your favorites since I was just probably early."

A huge wave of guilt just splashed on Kari. Kari slumped a little bit on her seat and just stared at TK's plate sadly. She didn't know whether to feel guilty that she made him wait, or at the fact that TK went through to the "café tradition" without even knowing for sure if she was going to make it. He remembers everything when it comes to her, and Kari failed to do the same. Some best friend. Regardless, she felt guilty. TK sensed the depressed aura surrounding them and looked over at Kari, who was awfully quiet. His eyes widened, suddenly realizing that he probably made her feel bad.

"O-oh, I don't mean it like that, Kari!" he answered, reassuringly, "I didn't mean to make you feel bad that you kept me waiting. I meant that…"

"I'm really sorry," Kari interrupted, sadly looking up from the plate to his eyes, "I totally forgot today was Sunday. I feel like such a bad friend for forgetting and having you wait for me. If I had known you were coming to the café like we always do, then I would have…"

"Whoa Kari, slow down," TK replied worriedly, slowing grabbing her hand across the table for comfort, "Don't feel bad. I should have figured that you'd forget, since you got sick last night. I don't know. I just had a feeling that I'd see you here today," He then grinned, "Which I did, didn't I?"

She looked down at their hands. Kari's face flushed at the warmth of his hands on her own. She looked back at the silly smile of her best friend, and let out a soft laugh.

"I guess it's that special telepathy we have."

"I bet it is!" TK said, grin widening, "Now go eat before the food gets cold. I could probably hear your stomach from miles away."

Kari pouted and smacked away his hand playfully. He was right though; her stomach was grumbling pretty loud. Especially from smelling the aroma of the chocolate pastry—it was almost impossible to ignore. She grabbed her fork, sliced the crepe and placed a piece into her mouth. An instant smiled found its way to her lips, and TK noticed the instant it did. Her eyes gleamed beautifully in satisfaction as she looked up from her plate and smiled cutely at him. Soon, TK found himself smiling in admiration. She was like angel. An innocent, sweet angel that was especially sent for him to love. He studied her more; beautiful seemed to be an understatement. From the way she eats to the way she blushes of embarrassment when she gets chocolate on her face; TK couldn't bear it. Sitting before him was the girl of his dreams, his best friend, and the girl who just confessed her love to him. If anything, TK was more confused on how he got so lucky. Kari, being more than perfect, blessed him with everything he asked for. She was sweet, caring, down-to-earth, and faithful—just like any best friend should be. TK, on the other hand, was the unfaithful one for being guilty of invading her privacy through her diary that he "stole". TK's smile faded as he suddenly remembered the diary incident. The diary was also part of the reason why TK called to have breakfast over at the café. He had to confess, and he had to do it now. He can't afford to lose the opportunity. Remembering Yolei's words from earlier today, he took a deep breath. _"It's all in the plan," _TK thought, positively, _"It's all in the plan."_

Kari noticed his smile slowly fade away. She didn't understand why he kept staring with a soft smile at her as she ate, but she had no complaints there. The fact that the smile disappeared is what got her worried. She placed down her fork and stared at TK concernedly.

"Is everything ok?" Kari asked curiously, eyes still gleaming.

Seeing her innocent looks made it even harder to TK to be straight out. He cleared his throat and attempted to give her another smile, but the weight on his shoulders prevented him to do so. His heart started racing nervously. He didn't know how to begin. Never before has TK had to confess about what he did, simply because he never done her wrong. And out of all things, reading her diary had to be the first. It's not like it was intentional, but how to break it to Kari while making it still seem that way was the hard part. TK's nervousness started to become more noticeable to Kari, as he started fidgeting with his fork while trying to keep eye-contact with her. He was way too deep in thought, and it showed. He started to clear his throat even more to make it seem less obvious that he was hiding something, but it just seemed like he was choking. That obviously didn't help, considering Kari got even more worried.

"TK, what's wrong?" she asked in slight panic, frantically grabbing her hot cocoa and gesturing it towards him, "Here, go drink!"

"N-no, I'm fine," TK answered awkwardly.

TK looked straight over at his best friend's face, who had "worry" and "doubt" written all over her. TK sighed in guilt. First he can't confess about the diary, and now he's lying? He can't stay in denial forever. He shook his head and took another deep breath.

"Listen, Kari" TK said carefully, nervousness growing as he stared into her worried eyes, "I…uh, um…you see, I…there's something that I…er…"

Kari raised her brow at him. He flinched. He couldn't find the right words to say to make it seem like he didn't necessarily _steal _the diary. He couldn't understand why something as simple as a small, pink book can determine his future with Kari forever. The scenarios in his head of Kari either losing trust in him or beating the living hell out of him was starting to become a tad bit overwhelming. Kari, not being able to pick up on what TK is trying to say, reached over and placed her hand over his in concern.

"TK is everything alright?" she asked, a bit too sweetly for TK to handle, "You know you can tell me anything. Unless, it's not the right time to tell me, because I totally understand if…"

"N-no," TK interrupted; sighing in disappointment of how pathetic he was being, "I have something important to tell you, and if I don't say it now, then everything will be all messed up."

Kari blinked. She was completely oblivious to what he was saying. He's almost dying over his words just to get it out—what could possibly be _that _important for him to tell her? But then she started to get nervous, realizing that there could be loads of important things that he could tell her after everything that happened over the past few days. Kari's heart then stopped. _"What if he's going to say something about when I told him I loved him?"_ Kari panicked, _"Oh my gosh, so that means he actually heard me! B-but that's good, right? That's what I wanted. Darn it, Kari! Get your act together!" _No matter how many times her mind tried to calm her down with positive thinking, it still wouldn't work. Now she was probably as nervous as the guy sitting in front of her. TK seemed to be growing a bit more confident, for he gripped softly onto her hands and looked straight into her eyes in a serious manner. She just stared back blankly; she wasn't used to seeing him this serious.

Despite that it didn't show as much anymore, TK was still nervous. But now that he got her right where he wants her to be, he couldn't back down now (especially if it's only the first part of the plan). He closed his eyes for a brief moment, gathering his final thoughts, and slowly opened them. With his hand still holding on to hers, he used his free hand to rummage through his bag. Kari paced herself.

"I…" TK started off, pulling out the item from his bag, pain striking his voice the moment he did, "I have your diary."

Kari froze on the spot. Her eyes were wide open, staring at TK with big, shocked eyes. Her body began to grow stiff. That simple confession was already too much to take in. She continued painfully staring at TK in disbelief. She couldn't believe it; she didn't want to believe it! TK, her best friend, out of all the people in the world, had her diary. Something then struck her hard: her diary mostly consisted of TK. Panic started to rise. _"W-what if he read it?" _Kari screamed in her mind repeatedly. Numbly, she slowly drew her hand away from TK and stared down at the pink book in his hands. There was no doubt that was hers. Feeling more hurt that it was actually true that TK had her diary, she looked back at TK with her pain stricken started to notice various emotions in Kari's eyes—panic, shock, sadness, and much more that hurt him by just looking. The more he stared, the more guilt that overcame him. He knew he had to continue. Silence was just going to make it worse.

"I-I don't know if you noticed it was gone, or if you've been wondering where it's at. A-and I just wanted to tell you now before you start to assume that I stole it, which I didn't, but…" TK then sighed, annoyed how his words started to sound like gibberish, "I'm really sorry, Kari. I'm really, really, sorry."

Kari slowly and shakily reached over for the diary. Once it was in her hands, she couldn't stop staring. As if she was waiting for it to change into something else; something other than her diary that her best friends supposedly now read. But it wasn't going to change. It was, in fact, her diary. And it was, in fact, TK who had it. The idea of him reading it was spinning in her mind. She started to become a little light-headed at the thought. She glanced over at TK with the same horrified eyes, and noticed how desperate he was for some type of response. It wasn't quite easy for him, either.

"W-why do you have this?" Kari breathed out, panicking, "_How _did you get this?"

It was difficult just to stare at Kari in such a state. It was as if she wasn't staring at her best friend anymore, but instead a nosy thief. He decided to be more straight forward with his answers; he figured it would hurt her less and finally remove the torturous look in her eyes. TK gulped.

"Remember Friday? When I went over to your house and brought you some…muffins?" TK blushed remembering the kiss incident that also took place that day, but continued, "W-while I was in your room waiting, I sort of…you see, I kind of…tripped. I-I don't know what exactly happened, but I fell over something—possibly over air…possibly—and I stumbled across your shelf with all your books."

TK's tone of voice changed; as if he was annoyed of how ridiculous the whole situation was, "Then they all like fell! Can you believe that? T-they just fell! All the books fell down, and I placed them back on the shelf before you can come in to avoid getting you mad, since you told me you just cleaned and I felt real bad for already making a mess the second I walked in. Because, well, you scare me when you're mad."

Kari just continued staring; this time with more confusion appearing in her eyes. TK coughed softly, realizing that he sort of got out of topic.

"A-anyways, it wasn't until I got home when I realized that your diary fell into my bag. I'm really sorry I didn't call you to let you know I have it. I just didn't know how to approach you, especially after we kis…"

TK restrained himself from saying the word "kiss" just in time, but Kari seemed to already know what he was going to say. Her face turned red as she recalled the moment of the kiss. Kari's body tensed up a bit. Her head started to hurt. There was just so much she had going on in her mind. The kiss, the confession, the diary—it was almost eating her alive! The fact that TK even had her diary was still fresh in her mind, and his story seemed almost too cliché to believe. Then feelings of guilt got to her for even accusing TK of lying. But then again, she felt she shouldn't feel guilty because it _was_ her diary. All her confused emotions lead her to start shivering. She almost couldn't focus on TK, despite that her eyes were frozen straight at him. She tried to speak, but she couldn't. There wasn't enough will-power to even open her mouth.

TK could already sense her pain, and he flinched in his seat as if he could feel it himself. Seeing his best friend in pain was one thing. Seeing his best friend in pain because of HIM was another. He debated in his mind with what he should do or say next to make Kari calm down, but nothing came to mind. Guilt was eating him away by the second. He couldn't even look at her straight in the eyes. Kari's mouth opened to get some air, and she breathed a bit heavily before she spoke.

"D-Did you read…" Kari stammered, not being able to finish.

She didn't need to finish. He knew. TK couldn't tell a lie, especially to Kari. He had to tell her the truth. He already confessed about having it; there's no way he was going to back down now. If TK hadn't read the diary, he wouldn't have understood why Kari was acting the way she was. But since he did…he had no excuse to make himself feel better. TK slowly looked down at his plate in guilt and nodded.

"Yeah…"

Kari's face soon matched a corpse's—pale and dead. Panic and fear struck into her system hard, and it prevented her to respond back. Considering that the whole diary was about TK, there was no way he would only read just one entry. She felt her body growing hot in embarrassment just thinking about it. _"So that means he read…! A-and he also read…!" _she thought in fear, eyes growing more wide and a bit teary, _"He read everything…!" _

The longer she prolonged her response, the harder it got for TK to reassure everything's okay. But then TK remembered what she actually wrote, and then understood why she seemed so scared. That diary held not only Kari's unconditional love for him, but also how she felt when he went out with other girls (which made him look like a jerk, since she was the reason he even got with those girls in the first place). TK examined her a bit more closely. He understood why she felt so embarrassed, but the fact that she looked like she was going to pass out is what scared him. Her face grew even paler, besides the hot red that formed on her cheeks, and her body starting shaking. It was if the whole world around them became quiet. The sounds from the park, the café; it all seemed nonexistent. The air even seemed to be getting thinner, suffocating both teens on the spot. Kari was shaking, but fixed in one spot with wide eyes, a freakishly pale complexion, and a shivering lip. Now TK got really worried. Being nervous was one thing, but looking like you're about to pass out was another. He took her hand swiftly, and stroked it comfortingly. Her hand was like ice.

"Kari, please," TK said worriedly, "You're really scaring me…"

"H-how much did you read?" Kari finally blurted out quickly, still panicking.

TK blinked at her sudden remark, especially after saying quiet for so long, but answered directly to save her the trouble, "I read most. And I'm really for intruding; it just happened. It was just so…tempting. The fact that my best friend even had a diary—what most a diary about me—is what got me really worried. I didn't know there were secrets between us."

TK just now realized that his last statement sounded a bit offensive. It apparently was, since Kari started to feel bad, and it showed. Her eyes lowered in guilt. She was getting a bit frustrated that more and more problems kept piling up, and finding a way out of it became even more difficult. TK immediately sensed her guilt, which then shifted to him for making her feel bad. He hated how everything he said kept hurt (or rather scaring) her. But the situation would only get worse if remained silent. Realizing that, he opened his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it.

"Y-you don't understand," Kari stammered in panic, face redder as ever, "I-I can't simply tell you have I feel w-when it's about you. B-because if I did, I wouldn't be a very good best friend. It would have been so selfish of me to say all those stuff. E-especially when you're happy and…"

"Kari, stop," TK said a bit sharply, startling her, "You're not selfish, especially to me. But you saying that you're hurting yourself just to make me happy…isn't really making me happy."

Kari straight up frowned. Hurt by that statement, she tried to release her hand from TK's, but TK gripped tighter. He realized he had again said the wrong thing, but no matter what, he was going to fix it. No matter how many times he has to "fight" with Kari. He didn't want any more false thoughts on their relationship.

"If anything, I should be the one that's sorry. I had no idea I was hurting you like this. All this time, Kari. All these years, and I was clueless. I'm sorry. I didn't take care of you the way I was supposed to. I should have known you better. I should have listened to everyone when they said how you felt about me, instead of being in denial. Alike with you, I was afraid of messing up our friendship. Because honestly, Kari…"

TK paused, gathering the courage before speaking again, "You mean more to me than anything."

Kari felt her face getting warmer by the second. She was crossed between feeling flattered, shocked, and nervous. She again opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She couldn't find the right words to say, which bothered her because she was used to TK saying stuff like that to her. Now that TK read her diary, everything he said seemed way more crucial. If the tension wasn't bad enough for her, TK grabbed her hands from across the table and looked deeply into her eyes.

"But I'm not sorry for reading your diary," TK said simply, surprising her, "I feel bad for reading it, yeah. But I don't regret it. Because, like I said, without it, I wouldn't have known how much I've hurt you. I just feel like crap. All these years, Kari! You would hurt yourself just to make me happy, and I failed to realize that. I feel like such a horrible best fri…"

"You're not!" Kari almost yelled, "D-don't even say that, you're…"

"Kari, no," he interrupted a bit sharply, tightening his grip on her hands, "I should have known better. A-and to be honest, I'm scared. I'm scared as hell right now because I'm back to where I started. And I don't want to mess up again. Not this time."

"W-what are you talking about?" Kari stammered, barely finding the courage to speak.

"Remember the day? _The_ day? That was the most nerve-wrecking day of my life, Kari. And unfortunately, the ending wasn't…as expected. But now I want to change that. I don't want to make the same mistake again. I'm not going to let this go. So, saying that…Kari, I…"

The nervousness shifted over to TK, who now started to shake a bit and grow red with blush. He looked troubled, almost frustrated, with the words that were trying to escape from his mouth. Kari felt his hands grow a bit warm and damp from his nervousness as he bit his lower lip slightly.

"K-Kari, will you…"

Cat got his tongue yet again as he choked. He let out a sigh of frustration as he fondled with Kari's hand. Kari was growing just as nervous, and that really wasn't helping either of them. Kari already had a general idea of what TK was going to say. But how to react is what was killing her. _The_ day was about to repeat itself, and Kari was not planning on giving the same answer. TK soon gulped, shook away his fear, and once again looked straight into her eyes. _"This is it," _TK thought to himself seriously, _"No more backing down, TK. Man up. It's now or never."_

"Kari, I lov…"

"Would you guys want some water?" the waiter interrupted, as he approached them, holding a tray of iced waters.

Kari felt a huge wave of relief hit her. The anticipation was too much to handle. TK release his grip slowly and sluggishly leaned back on his chair for a breather. His face was still flushed. Knowing TK won't respond, Kari sheepishly looked up at the waiter and nodded. As the waiter shifted the tray towards her, they heard yelling from the back. Kari turned her head and saw a young girl yelling and laughing and (what seemed like so) running away form her dad. The girl was running in their direction, and before they knew it, the girl accidentally bumped into the waiter, causing him to drop the tray of iced water on Kari. Kari gasped and jumped up immediately from the icy water that slid through her body. TK stood up as well, and the waiter started bowing apologetically.

"I'm so, so, so, sorry, Miss! I'm really sorry!"

"It'ssss s'okay," Kari said, shivering.

The waiter, with an even more apologetic face, handed Kari a towel that was conveniently hanging on his shoulder, "You may use the restroom to wash up, Miss. A-and we'll pack some warm pancakes for you to take home on our behalf. I'll go get you a shirt, too."

"Are you okay, Kari?" TK asked concernedly, "Do you need me to go with you?"

"No, I'm okay," Kari muffled, as she wiped her face with the towel, "I'll be fine."

While continuing to wipe her face, she turned around and walked into the building towards the restroom. The waiter followed shortly behind to give her the shirt. Once in the restroom, Kari wiped herself semi-dry before putting on the shirt. She looked in the mirror and twitched. The shirt had a smiling, waving muffin with a quote next to it saying: "Eat me!" then the Odaiba Café logo underneath it. Kari brushed off her wet hair with her fingers as she walked out.

She got back outside to meet up with TK, but she didn't see him out there. Blinking in confusing, she walked further outside towards their table. Everything was still there—the crepes, the hot chocolate, and the other mess made from the spilt water. She literally turned slowly in a circle to see if he was trying to sneak up behind her, since he knows how paranoid Kari can get with his jokes. Examining the table more closely, she looked towards his seat and saw a pink note on his seat, with a flower attached to it. Obviously curious, she picked up the note and read it closely:

_Dear Diary, _

_There is something really important I want to tell my best friend today. But I want to do it the right way. So, if she could somehow meet me over the bridge at Odaiba Park later on today, that would be great. That way, I can finally get a second chance on what could be the start of the greatest thing of my life._

_TK_

**TBC**

**GAH. I apologize to the bottom of my heart for the one month long updates. I've just been really busy. Last year of highschool, so things are pretty hectic. Haha, I'm a senior and I still love Digimon. Hell yes. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter :] I'll try to be constant as I can with updates. Read and Review, please and thanks!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm going to start off by whole-heartedly saying that I am so sorry for the super long update, and for telling you all that I would update quicker when I didn't. I did not expect to be so caught up in school for the last months. On the bright side, I finally graduated high school! Years of hell finally paid off. But now that summer time is here, I'll try to be as consistent as I can with updates (despite that this is actually the last chapter of the story). Thank you to those who were patient with me. I hope you will enjoy this chapter!**

**I Love You, BF!**

By iJutsu

**Chapter 7**

Kari idly stared at the note before her, trying to analyze everything that happened to her the past few hours. It was all too overwhelming. _"What does he mean by 'the right way'…?" _Kari thought nervously. She already figured what he wanted to say to her, it just all fell back to how she would react. It all happened before. This wasn't something new. It as was if Kari suddenly went back to the day TK asked her out the first time. The pressures, the doubts, the heartbreaks—she feared it would all just happen again. And it would be her fault, again. Kari sat down slowly on the chair to catch a breather. She stared at the small note in her hand and found herself half smiling. _"He can never keep it simple, can he?" _she thought to herself with a soft chuckle. Kari's smile began growing as she continued to stare at the note. Her best friend, the guy of her dreams, is going through all this trouble just to make up for his wrong doings and to make sure she gets better than what she deserves. She couldn't be more grateful to have TK as her best friend. What more, a guy who is just as in love with her as she is with him. Kari let out a small sigh and carefully folded the note and placed it into her pocket. _"Perhaps that's why I'm scared. I already have something so great with TK. I can't afford to lose it…" _Kari finally stood up and tried to shake off her negative vibes. She just realized she was holding up TK's time with whatever he was planning.

The note told her that she was to meet him at the bridge above the pond at Odaiba Park. Her heart already starting racing. The bridge was merely less than a mile walk from the café, and she was wasting seconds just standing there. Kari slowly made her way out of the café and intentionally took the longer way to the bridge. Intense butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Thoughts of how she should handle the situation kept on suffocating her mind. The memory of the first time he asked made her wince. Her fear and nervousness eventually turned into annoyance.

"How hard can it be just to say 'yes'," Kari whispered, annoyed with herself, "It's all different now, Kari. It's better and easier than ever. Don't let yourself down. Don't let him down."

"BOO!"

Kari jolted back in shock, just to see the bright, huge smile of her purple-headed friend. Kari pouted and smacked her on the arm childishly. Yolei just grinned.

"Yolei, you almost gave me a heart attack!" Kari whined.

"_Somebody_ forgot to hit me up this morning!" Yolei pouted, smacking her back, "You just left my house without a word! Talk about appreciation, sheesh! You give a person hospitality, and they just leave. What's up with that?"

Kari sighed, "I'm sorry. I just needed to get some air and you were asleep when I went to say good bye."

"Excuses, excuses," Yolei splat, and jumped up before Kari was able to open up her mouth to defend herself, "Oh my gosh, Kari! You need to help me! I lost my favorite jacket, you know the one with the flowers, while I was jogging this morning at this park and now I can't find it!"

Kari examined her perky friend from head to toe, and raised a brow.

"You went jogging in a dress?" Kari asked suspiciously.

Yolei blinked, and looked down at her outfit as if she forgot what she was wearing. Her face turned a bright red before she looked back up at Kari with a sheepish look on her face. She then quickly recovered by placing her hands on her hips and sighing over dramatically.

"I just want to break into this new dress! It's a bit tight on me, which is WHY I decided to work on it! Duh, Kari, common sense! Plus there are cute boys at the park today, so I figured might as well!"

Kari glanced at her surroundings and saw no cute boys. In fact, all she saw was few adults and the elderly just walking around. Not really typical to see teens out so early on a Sunday morning. Kari again sighed, and decided to just believe her silly stories to prevent any further distractions that may keep her away from seeing TK. Kari's eyes suddenly widened. She almost forgot about meeting him over at the bridge! He is probably expecting her by now. But she couldn't just get rid of Yolei, nor can she really tell her what's going on because she wouldn't want her to get involved. Kari winced at the thought of what would happen if Yolei found out what just now happened between her and TK. Yolei probably wouldn't let Kari out of her sight. Realizing she was wasting more time, Kari nervously laughed and smiled awkwardly.

"I'm really sorry to hear about your jacket, Yolei, but I'm pretty busy so…"

"Too busy to help a friend in need?" Yolei gasped, again dramatically, "C'mon Kari! You got to help me! I'm sure it won't take that long! I've looked everywhere and I'm probably going to catch a cold soon if I don't find it!"

"Yolei, I…"

"This is like the fifth jacket I lost this week!"

"But I have to…"

"I'm going to freeze to death!"

"Fine!" Kari groaned in defeat, "I'll help you find it! But I can't take very long because I…" 

"Excellent! Let's start!" Yolei gleamed, again interrupting her.

Kari let out a deep breath and walked towards the nearest bushes to start looking. Seeing that Kari was fully turned, Yolei let out a quiet, relieved sigh. Before she was able to take a step, her phone vibrated twice, indicating she got a text message. She rummaged through her bag, and pulled out her phone and twitched by the time she read the message:

YOLEY PLS KEEP DISTRACTING KARI I LOST THE HEAD OF THE COSTUME :'( !1!11

She was irked not only because TK was ruining the plan, but mainly because he misspelled her name. _"How the hell do you lose a giant bear head?" _Yolei thought in annoyance, _"And it's E-I, not E-Y! Not that hard!" _Stuffing her phone back with an angry huff, she followed Kari and pretended to look around. Yolei's mind was still occupied on TK. _"What if he doesn't find it soon enough?" _thought Yolei in slight panic, _"I can't stall Kari for very long! Wait, yes you can! I'm Yolei for Pete's sake! That boy's lucky Kari is gullible beyond belief." _She found herself giggling, but wasn't able to stop herself before she caught Kari's attention. Kari again raised a brow, and Yolei just grinned stupidly.

"What? I laugh when I think of something funny!"

Kari rolled her eyes with a short chuckle, and glanced around the park. "Do you remember which path you ran? Perhaps your jacket fell while you were running? Although, I don't know how a jacket would fall if you're wearing it…"

"What jacket?" Yolei asked stupidly, tilting her head.

Kari gave her a strange look, "The jacket that you…"

"OH!" Yolei exclaimed loudly, immediately catching her mistake, "Right! The jacket! Sorry, lost my train of thought there. Uh…what did you ask?"

Kari huffed. Seconds were wasting, and the concern of TK waiting any longer continued to grow. It took a whole bunch of time just to have her change at the café after getting the water incident. Who knows how long TK's been waiting already? But of course, being the sweet heart that she is, she couldn't just bail on Yolei during her time of "need". And if she doesn't help Yolei, Yolei will most definitely end up following her the whole day with suspicion. After restating her question, Kari and Yolei continued looking for the imaginary jacket. Good news was that Yolei was able to get Kari further away from the bridge. Bad news was it only took them a little over 10 minutes to examine every place Yolei "jogged" at. Yolei's panic meter slowly started to rise. She had to keep distracting Kari, and quick! Her anger meter towards TK also started to slowly rise. She shuffled through her purse, grabbed her phone, and tried to slickly text TK:

TK WTF! WHERE R U? DID U FIND IT? I AM RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS TO DISTRACT KARI! HURRY UP N FIND IT YOU USELESS, STUPID, HARD-HEADED, IRRESONSIBLE, CLUMSY PIECE OF—

"Who are you texting?"

Yolei jumped in surprise and almost dropped her phone as she saw Kari's little head peep over her shoulder. She quickly sent the unfinished message while placing it back into her bag. She then gave Kari another sheepish look to save her almost blown cover. Kari stared confusingly at her startled friend, which made Yolei panic even more. It wasn't like her to run out of ideas so fast.

"M-my mother," Yolei said, trying to sound reassuring, "I had to tell her that I couldn't find my jacket! It's hopeless, we'll never find it. It's okay, Kari, we tried our best. N-now let's get something to drink over at the soda machine over there! All this hide-and-seek is making me thirsty!"

"_Hide and seek?" _Kari twitched, as she followed Yolei to the machines. Now she was getting really suspicious. She knows that Yolei was a bit ditzy here and there, but not _this_ ditzy. Yolei skipped over to the soda machine, popped in some money and started humming while deciding what beverage she wanted. Kari couldn't help but just stare, and try to get her thoughts straight. Yolei was taking up the time she could of used to find TK, but then again, TK has not yet contacted her since he left the café. _"He would of said something if I was taking too long, wouldn't he? I mean, he wouldn't just leave," _Kari thought in slight concern. Kari then bit her lip softly. The thought of even seeing TK later in the day was making the butterflies come back again. The time she spent with Yolei almost made her forget.

"Say, Kari?" Yolei said, interrupting Kari's thoughts. "Y-yes?" Kari stammered, snapping back to life.

"Did you see TK today? I haven't seen that fool since he dropped you off at my house."

Yolei almost grinned at how persuading she sounded. And luckily for her, seeing how red Kari's face was becoming indicated that she fell for it. Kari fidgeted a little with her shirt. She was clueless on what to say. Again, she couldn't just merely tell Yolei what happened. Remembering everything that happened at the café made Kari's face grow even redder. The diary, the confessions, the apologizes—it all just made those intense butterflies flutter back to Kari's stomach. The nervousness of how to approach TK came back to her as well. And Yolei, being the observant and manipulative one, took that to her advantage.

"You DID, didn't you?" Yolei snickered, twisting open her bottle of pop, "I mean, look at you! You're like a tomato! No point of trying to come up with excuses that you didn't see him today, since we both know you did. Right? Right? I'm right aren't I? Right, so spill."

Knowing she was no match for her, Kari let out a semi-frustrated sigh and leaned against the soda machine. She looked down at the ground to avoid eye contact with Yolei. She lost, she had to tell her what happened. There was no way out of it now.

"We had breakfast this morning, and I found out he had my diary the whole time."

Yolei gave in a fake gasp to the best of her ability, "What? No way!"

"Yes way!" Kari said stressfully, suddenly looking straight in Yolei's eyes in frustration, "And the worst part of it is was that he READ the darn thing! He read ALL of it! Yolei, everything in that stupid pink book was about him! Like literally, he read it ALL! He found out how I felt about everything! About us, those girls, my feelings and UGH!"

Yolei couldn't help but stare at her poor friend in slight pity. Yolei really didn't need to ask about what was in Kari's diary, considering everything she tells Yolei was basically what was in that book. That made Yolei completely understand how Kari must feel now that TK knows everything. Kari's feelings of embarrassment and frustration were understandable, but Yolei was more than certain that she shouldn't feel that way. She sighed, and rubbed Kari's arm in comfort.

"You really shouldn't feel so embarrassed, Kari," Yolei assured, and continued on before Kari was able to object, "I mean, it wasn't like he laughed at you for feeling that way, or that he got mad. What exactly did he say?"

Kari hesitated before responding, trying to come up with something summarized enough for Yolei, "He told me that he didn't regret reading my diary at all, because if he hadn't, then he wouldn't have known how much I've been hurting. He felt guilty, so he just ended up apologizing to me about everything he did to me unintentionally…"

"You see!" Yolei said, brightening up her tone of voice, "Then there's really nothing to be embarrassed of! At least he felt sad about hurting you, instead of being hurt at the fact that you kept those types of things from him! Nothing to worry about, Kari. You know TK. He would never think wrong of you. I actually think it's a darn miracle that TK finally knows how you feel, since the both of you guys are hopeless without me!"

Kari let out a small and relieved laugh, once again accepting defeat, "You're right, I'm sorry."

"So did he confess?" Yolei asked, ever so bluntly.

Kari's heart skipped a beat to the question, "…Pardon?"

"Did he confess?" Yolei repeated dully, taking a sip of her soda, "And you know exactly what I'm talking about."

A short remembrance of the moment TK attempting to confess to her shot back into her mind. His embarrassed, blushed face, his warm palms, his nervous voice; Kari couldn't help but smile, realizing how cute it was to her. Feeling Yolei's impatient aura, Kari shook her thoughts away and answered.

"Y-yeah. Well, no, no not really. He tried, but then water spilt on me and, ugh, it's a long story. But yeah, he tried to."

"Were you nervous?"

"Of course I was," Kari answered simply, "I didn't want it to end up like the first time he asked me out. I mean, that was my fault and I really didn't want it to happen again," Kari sighed sadly before continuing, "I don't know Yolei. Everything just got easier for me. TK understands how I feel, I know he loves me, he already knows I love him—yet, why do I feel so…"

"Scared?" Yolei finished for her.

Kari just sighed and nodded once again in defeat. Scared was the perfect word. Yolei already knew Kari's fear was simply not wanting to mess up the strong friendship she has with TK. Yolei just smiled and leaned back against the soda machine with her. Kari glanced over at her curiously.

"How about you do this," Yolei started, tapping her chin, "When the time comes, just close your eyes or clear your mind or something. And just think about all the good times you've had with TK, and all the not so good times. As best friends. Then, think about how different things might be if you both get together. See if you can find any possibly differences. And from there, you'll know exactly what to do."

Kari just stared at Yolei more dumbfounded than ever, "What do you mean?"

"Sh! Sh!" Yolei said, placing a finger on Kari's lips to hush her, "Do not question my brilliance."

Suddenly, Yolei felt her phone vibrate once again in her bag. With her finger still upon Kari's lips, she used her free hand and pulled out her phone. It was another text message. Yolei opened the message, read it, and slowly her finger slid off Kari's lips. A smile formed on Yolei's face as she closed her phone and patted Kari on the head.

"I have to go now!" Yolei said, as if she was trying hard to stop herself from smiling, "My mom wants me home A-S-A-P! And you know how mother's get when they text you in capital letters. It's hell! Thanks again for all your help today! I'll talk to you later!"

Without giving Kari anytime to think, Yolei dashed off, waving good bye to her utterly confused friend. _"What in the world was she talking about?" _Kari thought, _"She is so strange sometimes, I swear." _Standing there alone made her suddenly remember about TK. Her eyes widened. _"Oh shoot! Who knows how much time I killed since I left café!"_ Fearing that TK may have waited longer than supposed to, she started walking quickly back towards the direction of the bridge. She didn't risk running, for she didn't want to look like a mess when she sees TK. However, she kept finding her pace slow down every second she got closer. The nervousness was building up in her again. She's been waiting for the second chance to come to her, and now that it came back, she feels, just as Yolei said, scared. Scared of how she might feel or how she might react. Scared of having the wrong words slip out. Kari started feeling annoyed with herself. _"I can't chicken out now," _Kari thought, trying to stay positive, _"This is what I want. This is what I've ALWAYS wanted. I can't let this go. Not again." _

Taking a deep breath, she hurried up her pace and soon enough found herself just a few feet away from the bridge. She could see the bridge from a distance. Oddly, she didn't see anyone around from where she was standing. A bit confused, she walked a bit faster towards the bridge, and expected to see the tip of a blond headed boy, but instead saw nobody. There was actually no one near the area of the bridge. A mysterious, yet peaceful and cool breeze swept passed her. It seemed to be the only noise around, besides her rapid heartbeats. Even the water below the bridge was silent and still. There was absolutely no sound besides the cool wind blowing through, causing Kari's panic level to increase. She was no longer starting to feel nervous about seeing TK. Instead, she was starting to feel afraid and paranoid. If there was anyone who had a weak, fragile heart when it comes to being scared or paranoid, it would be Kari. Kari started to feel nauseated with the panic that filled her body, but she figured just standing there wouldn't do much justice. Thoughts about just leaving got into her mind. _"B-but TK…!" _Kari thought, counterattacking her previous thoughts, _"I can't leave. TK told me to meet him here! A-and he wouldn't just bail on me…right?" _

Deciding not to lose her dignity for once, she slowly made her way closer to the bridge. So far, so food. She glanced around every now and then to see if locals were passing by, but none. Letting out a shaky breath, she continued her way up. Finally, she was at the start of the bridge with one foot upon the wood. She gulped and slowly walked onto the bridge. The air suddenly seemed thicker. Her heartbeat started beating faster. Abruptly, she found herself breathing a bit heavily from her mouth to prevent her heart from pounding it's way out of her chest. It wasn't working. She heard a swift noise from the side, and with a yelp, jumped in surprise. She turned swiftly to the direction of the noise with wide eyes and saw that it was just the leaves rustling along with the wind. _"Calm down, Kari. It's just the wind. And it's morning time! N-nothing happens in the morning!" _Taking in even more deep breaths, she started once again. Before she knew it, she finally made it to the middle of the bridge, where the pond looked the most beautiful. Feeling a huge wave of relief hit her, she leaned towards the awkwardly short rail of the bridge and looked down at the water. Clear blue water, cute lily pads, the glistening from the sun—the beauty was successfully able to slowly, but progressively, calm Kari down.

The calmness ended too soon. All of a sudden, she started hearing footsteps. Slow, heavy footsteps. Footsteps that couldn't possibly be from TK; he knows her well enough not to mess with her this way. She dared not move. She started to shake in fear. The paranoia was killing her. Her shivering hands stayed fixed upon the railings as she tried to remain calm. Her body wouldn't move. Her palms were getting sweaty as her breathing became more troubled. The footsteps were getting closer. _"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. I'm going to die. It's a rapist! No, a murderer! No, a rapist murderer!" _Her heart was beating uncontrollably. She couldn't take it anymore. Suddenly the footsteps seemed to be getting louder and louder towards her. Before she could even think twice about making a run for it, she felt a fuzzy hand touch her shoulder. Kari screamed. She turned around and her eyes widened in even more fear. It was a bear! She screamed again. _"A rapist murderer bear!"_ Her panic level has reached it's limits.

"GET AWAY PERVERT!" Kari screamed, pushing it away from her, "GET! AWAY!"

"K-kari, no it's m…!"

"H-how do you know my name?" Kari yelled fearfully, "Stay away! I'm warning you! I'll call the cops!"

"N-no, Kari, please calm down," the bear said, making it's way back to Kari, "Listen to me, I'm…!"

"Stay away!" Kari begged, getting teary eyed from all the fear and panic she was experiencing in just one standing, "Please! Don't get any closer! I'm begging you!"

"Kari! Just hear me out!" the bear, placing his paw once again on Kari's shoulder.

She screamed once again in panic and started smacking and pushing the bear towards the railing of the bridge, "S-stop! Don't touch me! Don't touch me! Don't touch me! Stop! No! No! No!"

The bear didn't seem to stop. His paw again reached to touch her, but Kari wasn't going to let it happen again. With one swift movement, Kari raised her hand and powerfully slapped the lights out of the bear. The bear grunted in pain and lost his balance. He stumbled backwards and accidentally grabbed onto Kari's hand as support. Big mistake. The moment he pulled, they both fell off the rail of the bridge and fell into the pond below. Once they hit the pond, Kari splurted out the water and started having even more panic attacks.

"I'm drowning! I'm drowning!" Kari cried, splashing the water and then slowed down as she realized the water was just a foot deep, "I'm…drowning…?"

She then heard a groan from beside her. A shaky hand touched her arm for support. Kari gasped. The pervert! Kari swiftly tried to pull away and escape his grasp, but then stopped when she realized the head off the bear fell off and that there was actually a person in a bear suit in pain. Her eyes widened in complete shock.

"TK?"

It was TK! Eyes still fixed wide on her best friend, he shakily sat up with only the support of Kari's frozen arm. There they were, sitting in the middle of the pond under the Odaiba Park, both soaking wet, and one wearing a bear suit. Kari's head pounded in confusion and frustration.

"Wwhat the hell is going on?" Kari yelled, smacking TK on the arm, "Y-you scared the living daylights out of me!"

"W-what did you think I was?" TK moaned, rubbing the back of his head.

Kari blushed and tensed down a bit before answering, "….A rapist murderer bear."

TK turned his head to finally stare at Kari. He blinked at her, caught off guard with her answer. He was giving Kari the most confused, yet innocent, look on his face that made it harder for Kari to bear. She felt so embarrassed; the increasing redness on her face proved it. A small curve formed onto his lips, catching Kari's attention. She raised a brow. His smile started to grow, and his body started to once again shake. Out of nowhere, and if it wasn't enough to scare Kari, TK burst out into laughter.

"A rapist murderer bear?" laughed TK, "Really, Kari? Oh my god, I'm such a fail!"

Kari's face turned hot in both embarrassment and anger, "Stop laughing you jerk! That was not funny at all! S-stop! You almost killed me!"

She splashed water on him to make him shut up, but it only made it worse. Still laughing, he splashed water back at her. Gasping, since the water was so cold, she continuously started splashing water towards TK. Unexpectedly, she eventually found herself laughing along with him. Feelings of being a child came over her. She was splashing water in a pond with her best friend. Just like old times. These were the moments that make everything worth it. The moment she spends with her best friend, the love of her life—nothing but happiness started to fill her heart. This is why they are best friends.

The laughter started to die off, and she found herself on the grass, sitting side by side with TK with their feet in the water. His bear suit was finally off, but his clothing also got drenched. Kari stared at TK as she squeezed the water from her hair. His face seemed content, but at the same time, a bit disappointed. TK patted the bear head that rested on his lap and let out a huff.

"So much for the plan," TK said quietly, staring at the bear head dully.

"What plan?" Kari asked, bewildered.

TK sighed and placed the bear head aside. He lifted up on knee and rested his arm and head upon it before locking his eyes with Kari. A sudden flutter was felt in her heart as she stared into his cool, blue eyes. He truly was a handsome one. A soft, gentle smile formed upon his lips as he continued to stare.

"You're really beautiful, Kari."

Kari's heart jumped. What a sudden change of topic! He still stayed in the position, staring deeply into her eyes. Her face grew redder every second that their eyes remained locked. She looked away embarrassingly and ruffled her hair.

"D-don't change the subject!" Kari stammered, trying to get her heart to calm down, "What is this plan you are talking about? D-dressing up like a bear and scaring me to death?"

TK chuckled at the sight of his best friend. He then laid down on his back, face towards the blue sky. He stretched his arms behind his head and took a deep breathe. Kari still didn't look over at him, but she could feel the negative vibes coming off from him. He was starting to feel a bit down, not because of the plan failing, but because of realizing how much his best friend went through all this time just for him to get a girl. He felt so ashamed. TK let out another sigh and covered his eyes with one arm.

"I don't understand how you were able to do all this," TK said a bit sadly, "Buy flowers, make notes, dress up as a bear for crying out loud—just for me to get a girl and be happy. If only I had known you were going through so much trouble…!" TK's let out a shaky sigh to relieve his frustration, "I-I'm sorry. I feel so bad."

Kari winced at the feeling of his guilt, "Bad? Why would you feel that way?"

"You know why," TK said in a cute, little whine, "All these years, you've done things like this for me and selfish ol' me didn't realize how much it must have hurt you. And for you to go through all this trouble just for me, I don't know. I feel like I've failed on my part as a best friend."

"N-no!" Kari exclaimed in her defense, finally looking over at her friend laying beside her, "Never, EVER feel that way! TK, you are the most amazing person ever. E-especially to me! A-and even though I never understood how someone as ditzy and lame as me got so lucky to even be given a chance to get so close to a guy like you, I am so blessed that you are my best friend! You've…never failed me."

Kari suddenly found her throat dry from the rush of emotions that just came crashing down on her, but she continued, "You've done so much for me. You protect me, take care of me, and sometimes you treat me like a baby and I-I know I always throw a fit about that b-but I really do love it. And you probably don't even realize it, but just your smiles, your dumb laugh, those good morning calls, those days where you decide to spend the whole day with me to do nothing, our Odiaba Café tradition, it all makes me so happy. I wake up every morning excited because I know you'll be a part of my day. H-happy is an understatement when I'm with you."

Kari took a deep breathe as an attempt to settle down and continued, "That's why I keep doing this to myself. B-because I'm afraid of losing something so great. W-which is why I always want to make sure you are happy with me as I am with you. I'm happy when you're happy, TK. A-and t-that's why I did all those things! Y-you don't know how scared I was when you asked me out. I got so afraid that after the rejection, things would be so different between us and t-that you wouldn't like me the way you did before. I hurt you. A-and I tried harder to make you happy again by doing all those things for you. You deserve to be happy. I didn't want to lose you. I…I didn't want to lose my best friend."

Unexpected tears started falling from her eyes, and she couldn't find enough will-power to try to stop. Her feelings were finally pouring out, and she had no intentions on making it stop now, "M-maybe that's why I'm refuse to let my true feelings show around you. I've always loved you. I would always beat myself up for not saying yes because I waited for that moment for so long. But seeing how our friendship stayed strong even after the rejection, I d-didn't want to risk losing that. Losing our friendship. It's already so strong, s-so great. I…I don't want things to change between us, and I-I'm scared, okay? I'm scared, I'm scared, I'm scared."

Kari stopped for a breather, and began wiping her eyes boyishly. She couldn't believe everything she just said to him. Everything just poured out, and she wasn't able to stop herself. She realized she went way off topic after her first response, and she couldn't help but feel embarrassed. Knowing that staying quiet wasn't going to make things any less awkward, she wiped her face, looked away and gave in another sigh, "J-just, never feel that way, okay?"

There was no response. Kari waited a few seconds. Still, no response. The silence between them was both suffocating and irritating, considering Kari just poured her heart out to him. She slowly peeked back at her best friend, who was still laying down with one arm covering his eyes. She twitched angrily. Kari turned back around and roughly poked him.

"Oi!" Kari said, annoyed, "Y-you better not be asleep, or else I'll…!"

"I love you."

Time stopped. Everything just seemed to freeze. Once again, the only sound filling the air was her heartbeats and the now gentle breeze that blew around them. Kari stared at TK in awe. TK, who was oddly since in the same position, finally confessed to her. Countless of times she heard TK tell her he loves her, but this time was different. This time, it wasn't the love shared between friends. This time, it wasn't the 'best friend love' that would be expressed out of habit. No. This time, it was the hidden love that finally found it's way out of denial, doubts, and heartache. This time, it was real.

Kari's body refused to move. Her eyes stayed fixed upon the boy who finally confessed his love to her. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Both her mind and heart was racing. Feelings of both relief and happiness came to her, but she at a loss to express it. TK, much to Kari's surprise, let out a small laugh.

"I am so nervous right now, Kari, you have no idea," TK laughed, feeling embarrassed, "All this time, I was trying to find a way to ask you out. Like, the right way. The café, the bridge, this bear costume—I really messed up. The whole thing was my plan to finally man up and confess. But since I dug myself deeper into this hole, I might as well save myself now before I mess up again."

A gentle smile found it's way to his lips, "I think _I'm _the lucky one. I'm lucky to have such an amazing girl in my life that I can call my best friend. It's sort of impossible for me to tell you how much I love you, because there's just not enough time in the world for me to express it. Which is why I took the risk, because I knew it would be worth it. I never stopped loving you, even after you rejected me. I was stupid for trying to seek love from all those other girls—they were all just shallow excuses for me to find a way to heal. I mean, yeah. I was hurt. But I never had the intention to give up on you. And I'm sorry it came off that way. I really am sorry."

TK's smile then lightened up, and Kari felt his optimism, despite that his eyes were still covered, "Ha, I really am lucky. My best friend is more than amazing. She's beautiful, smart, fun to be with, and she has a heart the size of the moon. There isn't a day I don't think about her. I feel as if my life has become so much worthwhile ever since I've met her. Every moment we spend together, I become more than happy. Honestly, if there's anyone I would want to fall in love with, it would be with my best friend."

Finally, he removed his arm from his eyes and stared lovingly at his best friend with the most breath-taking smile, "And I'm glad it's you."

Kari was dazed. Her body felt warm, and her heart felt like it was going to beat it's way out of her body—but this time, it was good kind of beating. Her eyes started watering, but they were tears that revealed nothing but pure happiness. A real smile finally found it's ways to Kari's lips as she stared at TK, who was laying there with the same loving look in his eyes. TK noticed her smile, and found himself feeling the same exact happiness she was. He reached out his hand towards her face, and softly wiped away her tears.

"I love you, Kari. Always have, always will."

Kari sniffled cutely and softly rested her cheek upon his hand. She stroked his hand, and smiled. She was still at a loss of words. She was happy, but she had to tell him something soon before it just ends up becoming incredibly embarrassing for him. TK looked at her expression and blushed. _"W-was she expecting something more?" _TK thought nervously, _"Did I mess up again?" _TK let out a silly groan and once again covered his eyes, but this time with both his arms resting upon his face. Kari blinked.

"I-I'm sorry if it didn't come off as romantic, I'm really not the best at th…"

His sentence was cut short once Kari slowly bent over and placed her lips softly upon his own. A sudden sensation traveled through both the teens as Kari removed her lips and straightened up. TK removed his arms from his eyes and looked at Kari in awe, who was as blushing madly. She stared at TK with wide eyes and soon covered them with both her hands to hide her embarrassment.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know what came over me! I—mmph!"

TK silenced her with yet another kiss, while gently removing her hands from her eyes. He kissed her delicately, and soon enough, Kari found herself kissing him back with an equal force. She closed her eyes and remembered what Yolei's instructed her to do. She thought of her and TK's friendship, their bond, and their love. Right then and there, finally understood what Yolei was trying to say.

Nothing was ever going to change. If they can overcome this—the drama, the heartbreak, the doubts— then they can overcome anything else that gets thrown at them. The fluttering in their hearts, the gentleness from their touch, the constant smiles that came in between the kiss—everything was perfect. The fear of losing her best friend vanished from her mind. No more hidden feelings, no more pain, and no more forced happiness. Kari was no longer scared.

Everything was finally where it was supposed to be.

**FIN**

**It is 5 AM. Oh my goodness, how time flies when you're so caught up in something. Well, here's to an end of I Love You, BF! I really hope you all enjoyed the story. And much gratitude again to those who sticked along and continue to read and support my work. I'll do my hardest to come up with more stories to write, because I honestly do miss this. **

**Thank you all, again! Much love! **

**READ & REVIEW! **


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